Following the increase in fuel prices last month,the MSRTC has also decided to increase its fare by about 7 per cent. As far as its Pune Division is concerned,this hike will add Rs 5 lakh to its daily earnings of Rs 65 lakh. The hike,which came into effect from Friday midnight,is applicable not only to the services within the state but also to the interstate buses including the recently launched Pune-Bangalore volvo bus. Before this,the MSRTC had increased the fare in June 2008. This time,due to the rise in the cost of diesel and petrol in the last week of February,the State Transport Authority (STA) permitted the MSRTC to increase its passenger fares from today midnight from March 13. The fare hike this time is coming to 7.69 per cent. Karnataka,Kerala and other state transport undertakings have already increased their fares starting from March 3. Due to the increased fuel prices,the MSRTC was incurring a daily loss of Rs 36 lakh,which is why we were left with no other option but to increase the fares. In addition to the fuel,the prices of automobile parts like tyre-tubes,chassis,spare parts,have also gone up, said Mukund Dhus,MSRTC spokesperson said. As far as the Pune division of MSRTC is concerned,this increased fare would add Rs 5 lakh on a daily basis. Now,the increased fare would give us some relief and will give 7 per cent more earnings, Shivaji Sonawane,divisional controller of MSRTC said.
