This is the news item that appeared yesterday in "The Hindu" about change in HoHo Routes. What interested me was its fare. A flat rate of Rs.10/-. I will not go into the merits and de-merits of route changes, why some people have called it a flop attempt etc. My interest is to discuss the fare of Rs.10-.
If you browse Praja, you will come across comments from members about ordinary travelers subsidizing the fares for Volvo travelers. I have just taken 2 from that post for discussion here.
@naveen
Going by your calculations, it does indeed seem like the subsidy is heavily tilted in favor of AC bus users, unless ridership increases substantially. Thus, one would have to say that the operation of these buses must be confined only to carefully selected routes with higher patronage, else they will lose money heavily.
@das
One thing I find deeply troubling is that the poorer ordinary bus user is subsidizing the richer Volvo user to a crazy extent.
If we are questioning the rational of fares in volvo, I hope the same rational holds good for HoHO fare also. Or we were little more charitable towrads HoHo service, where we didn't question its fare.
The bigger question is, what should be the formula for fixing the fare in Public transport buses? Any working models?
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Comments
Salvaging effort...
HoHo has become the butt of Ha Ha Ha.
Go ahead BMTC, do everything/keep experimenting with what all you can hog, even if it means by reducing to Re.1 fare because, the blackboard traveller's route and travel circuit of HoHo are totally different.
The real benefit of Ho-Ho is de-congestion
Syed, sorry I cannot help you, but we need to get out of this mania with cross-subsidisation. Almost any government run service seems to think they can fleece the upper classes to subsidise the lower. The PDS or Railways are a good service. Net result is that upper classes get deserted.
BMTC is loosing about 2 Cr per month on the Vayu Vajra, yet the social service aspect is used to justified the service. The Ho-Ho by comparison will cost under 5Cr per month. The profits from Big10 (which ties in to the HoHo) can easily off-set and still provide surplus, even if HoHo is made FOC.
The government has to work on a cost-plus basis for each service it runs. This will provide real value for money for the consumers and help make qualified decisions to choose the level of service we are willing to pay for.
I think we are missing the real point of the Ho-Ho service, we have to also measure impact in terms of CBD decongestion.
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Regards
Devesh
Bangalore Aviation
Enjoy life, destroy FUD
Regards
Devesh
Bangalore Aviation
Enjoy life, destroy FUD
BMTC and talk of subsidy !
Devesh,
With regard to your advice "..sorry I cannot help you, but we need to get out of this mania with cross-subsidization..."
I did not raise this issue. It was raised by our fellow Praja members Naveen and Das, in the context of Volvo service from BMTC.
My intent here in this post is to understand the rational behind fixing a flat rate of Rs.10/-. This question should be posed in all other services that BMTC run.
With regard to subsidies, It is a matter of relativity in every aspect of India and Indian economy. Some call it tax breaks (SEZ's), some call it financial help (Scholarships) and some call it govt's promotion for Industries (Nano). Some use subsidy (Hajj) for political benefits.
Isn't a fact that the biggest subsidy is used by the wealthy and rich who drive gas guzzlers, whether out of necessity or out of pur passion for personal vehicles?
I have no problem in BMTC lowering fares in one segment to keep the service popular. BMTC is a public owned company and its primary motive is to provide Public transportation to the people. FYI, BMTC per its Admin report 2006-07 has earned a net profit of Rs.200 Crores. That should silence the critics for lower fares etc. Nobody criticizes Lalu for keeping railway tickets low without any rational or link to costs of IR operation.
I agree with you on the issue of PT service needs to be seen not only in terms of ridership and fares, but also in terms of how it helps the City's transport needs.