CNG price rise forces auto drivers, bus body to consider hiking fares

Residents may have to shell out more for commuting within the city as the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) as well as autorickshaw drivers are actively discussing increasing fares amid the steep hike in CNG price since December last year.

Anju Chaudhary, one of the directors of GMCBL and its CEO, said discussions are going on to increase the bus fares. “However, no final decision has been taken yet. There are several aspects which need to be explored before taking a final call,” she said.

Chaudhary said the main reason why full-fledged discussions are going on about increasing the bus fares is because the price of CNG has gone up tremendously in the last few months. However, she did not divulge the details of how much the fares might go up. “The board of directors of GMCBL is a competent authority to decide and increase the fare as per need,” she said.

According to officials, the minimum fare of GMCBL bus is ₹10 per passenger and the maximum ₹ 40, which also includes ₹5 toll tax.

According to experts, a low floor bus operated by GMCBL can go upto 2.5km; a six-seater auto-rickshaw can go up to an average of 25-30km while a three-seater rickshaw can ply for 34kms on 1kg of CNG, which was priced at ₹79.9 /kg on Saturday.

Yogesh Sharma, general secretary of Haryana Autorickshaw Drivers’ Union, said the CNG price in Gurugram is higher than Delhi. “The Haryana government fixed the fare of ₹12 for the first kilometer and ₹8 per kilometer thereafter in Gurugram after forming the fare meter policy in 2018. In Delhi, where fares have not been revised in the last four years, the going rate for hired rickshaw is ₹30 for the first kilometer and ₹20/km thereafter,” said Sharma.

He added they have requested the district administration to form a committee to revise the fare for private autorickshaws during a meeting held on Thursday, which was primarily organised to inform auto drivers to install fare meters in their vehicles by June 30. “We have been asked to submit our demand, which will be sent to the government for revision. We have assured the administration that we will comply with the direction of installing meters,” said Sharma. He added it is becoming difficult for autorickshaw drivers to make ends meet due to the increasing prices of CNG postpandemic. “They won’t be able to survive by charging such low rates from passengers,” he said.

Sharma said the fare of shared autorickshaw plying from Phagwara Chowk and going to Sikandarpur, Badshahpur, Khandsa, railway station and few other places is still ₹10 per passenger since 1995 and it never got revised.

Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav said that the demand of fare revision was genuine as the fares were last revised four years ago.

“The union’s representative will submit a representation to us within a day or two...It will be forwarded to the state government for approval. We are expecting the fares will be revised a month before the deadline for installing fare meters on private rickshaws,” he said.

Jai Bhagwan, head of the group of autorickshaw drivers plying on Iffco Chowk and IMT Manesar, said they are waiting for GMCBL to increase the bus fares. “If we increase the fares on our own, we will lose passengers to GMCBL and other operators. We can’t afford such a scenario because the average daily income of an auto driver has come down to ₹350 to ₹500, after deducting all expenses, due to CNG price hike. If the average daily income goes down further, it will become hard for us to sustain,” he said.