If tolls keep ticket prices high, BMTC should be exempted

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) pays ₹ 6-7 crore as toll and they end up adding a fair share of it on the passengers by including it in the bus tickets.

 

BMTC has buses travelling to Nelamangala, Kempe Gowda International Airport (KIA), Devanahalli, Electronics City, Hoskote, NICE road and these are all toll roads. Passengers who use BMTC buses have also been facing the pinch of paying more.

 

These are the amounts that BMTC has to pay for its AC buses as toll and these are also the highest amounts of toll fees:

 

## Buses to the Bengaluru International Airport pay ₹ 25 lakh every month.

 

## Buses plying towards Devanahalli pay ₹ 12 lakh every month.

 

## Buses towards Nelamangala pay ₹ 10 lakh per month.

 

## Buses to Electronic City end up paying ₹ 21 lakh per month.

 

## Buses plying on NICE road and towards Hoskote pay ₹ 50,000 every month.  

 

As a result, BMTC has requested the government to exempt the city buses from paying the toll which in turn will help the passengers as bus fares will go down.

 

“We have been writing to authorities to exempt city buses from paying toll fee and service tax. The reason is, it increases the bus fare as we have to shift the burden on the passengers. If the BMTC get the exemption, bus fare will come down and the passenger gets the benefit,” BMTC MD Ekroop Caur was quoted as saying by Bangalore Mirror.

 

These are not the only amounts that BMTC pay. They also pay an average of ₹ 80 lakh every year as service tax after they collect it from the passengers as they use the air-conditioned buses. And BMTC has a fleet of over 700 AC buses plying in and around the city of Bengaluru.