Transport fare anomalies

The last time that the rates were fixed by the government was in 2003. Since then, there has been a communication gap between the authorities concerned and the transport owners. The communications ministry should have been able to foresee that transport owners would ask for enhanced rates after the fuel prices were raised. But there is no mechanism for automatically responding to a situation where transport fares might need to be readjusted to higher fuel prices with the government keeping the interest of transport users uppermost in its mind. It seems the government takes some sort of action only when chaos engulfs the transport sector or transport owners threaten extreme measures like strikes. No system is in place to monitor the situation from time to time and adopt timely corrective measures.

Under no circumstances can the people be held ransom to running egotistical battles between the communication ministry and the leaders of the transport sector. An economist has only stated the obvious when he says that commuters should not face serious difficulties if bus fares are raised in proportion to the fuel price increase. But in reality, arbitrary increases in fares have become the rule rather than exception.

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Considering the huge number of commuters who have been suffering erratic transport fares, the government will be well advised to sort out the fare anomalies with the transport sector leader through an engaging, result-oriented consultative process before long.