After a gap of nearly 7 years, the Tamil Nadu government has hiked the bus fares across all its operating services on January 19, 2018. This hike is effective January 20, 2018 across city and moffusil services.
Changed Fares & Other Changes
Minimum fare of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses in Chennai has been increased from Rs 3 to Rs 5, and the maximum from Rs 14 to Rs 23. Justifying the fare hike, a senior official said “Southern neighbhouring States, including Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have hiked the fares of buses in the last two years, but Tamil Nadu had not increased the fares in the last six years,”sources said. In case of non-metros, tickets would range from Rs 3 to Rs 19. For non city services, the fare has been increased by 30%. Inspite of the hike, the basic entry fare will continue to be one of the cheapest in India.
Mofussil Services
| Mofussil Services | Present Fare | Increased Fare |
| Normal (10 km) | 5 | 6 |
| Express | 17 | 24 |
| Super Deluxe (Point to Point) – 30 km | 18 | 27 |
| Ultra Deluxe – 30 km | 21 | 33 |
| Air Conditioned – 30 km | 27 | 42 |
| Volvo – 30 km | 33 | 51 |
| Ghat / Hills | ||
| Normal – 6 km | 4 | 7.2 |
| Express – 30 km | 20 | 28.8 |
Town / City / MTC Buses
| Town / City / MTC Buses | Current Minimum | Current Maximum | Current maximum |
Proposed Maximum
|
| City / Town (Other Cities) Stage 1 – Stage 20 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 19 |
| MTC | 3 | 14 | 5 | 23 |
Air Conditioned / Volvo Buses
| Volvo Buses | Current Minimum | Current Maximum | Current maximum |
Proposed Maximum
|
| MTC (Stage 1 – Stage 38) | 15 | 100 | 25 | 150 |
MTC Bus Fare
The MTC Bus fare includes a Cess of Rs 1.
| Stage | Ordinary Service | Express Service | Deluxe Service | Night Service |
| 1 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 10 |
| 2 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 12 |
| 3 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 14 |
| 4 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 16 |
| 5 | 10 | 14 | 20 | 18 |
| 6 | 11 | 16 | 22 | 20 |
| 7 | 12 | 17 | 24 | 22 |
| 8 | 13 | 19 | 26 | 24 |
| 9 | 14 | 20 | 28 | 26 |
| 10 | 15 | 22 | 30 | 28 |
| 11 | 16 | 23 | 32 | 30 |
| 12 | 16 | 23 | 32 | 30 |
| 13 | 17 | 25 | 34 | 32 |
| 14 | 17 | 25 | 34 | 32 |
| 15 | 18 | 26 | 36 | 34 |
| 16 | 18 | 26 | 36 | 34 |
| 17 | 19 | 28 | 38 | 36 |
| 18 | 19 | 28 | 38 | 36 |
| 19 | 20 | 29 | 40 | 38 |
| 20 | 20 | 29 | 40 | 38 |
| 21 | 21 | 31 | 42 | 40 |
| 22 | 21 | 31 | 42 | 40 |
| 23 | 22 | 32 | 44 | 42 |
| 24 | 22 | 32 | 44 | 42 |
| 25 | 23 | 34 | 46 | 44 |
| 26 | 23 | 34 | 46 | 44 |
| 27 | 24 | 35 | 48 | 46 |
| 28 | 24 | 35 | 48 | 46 |
| 29 | 25 | 36 | 50 | NA |
| 30 | 25 | 36 | 50 | NA |
According to transport department sources, the per kilometre price of ordinary mofussil buses is likely to go up from 42 paise to 60 paise; Express and deluxe bus fares to get increased from 56 paise to 73 paise.
The bus fare of Super Deluxe service is expected to increase to 75 paise as against the current 60 paise per km, while Ultra Deluxe bus fare may go upto 95 paise from 70. This means, ticket fare of an SETC bus from Chennai to Madurai will increase from nearly Rs 325 to Rs 440 per passenger.
Similarly, the ticket fares of AC Volvo buses, is likely to increase by 60 to 70 paise per km.
Fare Indexing
In order to bring in a periodic revision in case of changed input costs, the Transport department has now indexed the fares based on a complex formula that includes factors like fuel cost and inflation etc…
Accident Insurance / Fund Contribution
The transport department has now decided to create a road accident fund out of every ticket that is issued by the various corporations. The plan is to create a compulsory participatory contribution from the user. This fund shall be held in escrow and be used only for accident related compensation. Currently, accident related compensation see an outflow of 300+ crores annually.
Reasons for the Bus Fare Revision
The reasons for the bus fare revision has been due to the non revision of fares for an extended period of time inspite of the inputs costs like High Speed Diesel rising sharply. Historically the subsidy offered on the fares has not been compensated to the bus transport Corporations. This has led to mounting loses for the 8 bus corporations. Over the past 10-15 years, this amount has skyrocketed to almost 16000 crores. This move of fare revision is seen as the first among the many steps for the redemption of the health of the bus transport corporations in the state.