By IANS
New Delhi : Residents of the national capital will have to pay more for using public transport as the Delhi government Thursday increased the fares of buses, auto-rickshaws and taxis.
After a cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her government had taken into consideration all aspects while deciding the issue of revision of bus fares and charges of auto-rickshaws and taxis.
"All possible care has been taken to ensure that common man is not burdened. Hence it has been decided to increase bus fare from Rs.2 to Rs.3 for travelling up to 4 kilometres whereas there would be no increase in the charges for remaining slabs of Rs.5, Rs.7 and Rs.10," Dikshit told reporters.
The last revision of bus fares was on Dec 31, 1999.
Auto-rickshaw fares have been raised from the existing Rs.8 to Rs.10 for the first kilometre and for every additional kilometre Re.1 from the existing Rs.3.50.
"A marginal increase of Re.1 would not pinch any passenger, as the increase is nominal despite high cost of running of vehicles due to enhanced price of petrol, cost of maintenance and enhanced salaries of staff," Dikshit added.
The last revision of auto-rickshaw fares was on Feb 5, 2003.
As regards the black-and-yellow taxis, the fare for the first kilometre was hiked from Rs.13 to Rs.15 and thereafter for every additional kilometre Rs.8.50 from the existing Rs.7.00.
Dikshit said the proposal to increase rates for monthly passes for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses has been postponed.
Meanwhile, residents expressed their dissatisfaction over the revision of fares and said these would make a bigger hole in their purse.
"Increasing the auto-rickshaw fares is not fair. First of all they don't go by the meter and they behave so badly. Instead of improving the quality of service, they (government) have increased the charges," said Ruchika Bose, a working woman.