On January 5,2025,The Karnataka Government has announced that the bus fares will increase by 15% across all the services operated by the state’s four Road Transport Corporations(RTCs), and the commuters will be paying an additional 15% for ticket in all bus services.
The decision of rise in fare has been made by the Congress government, headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He made the decision to increase the fare with the aim of generating an additional amount of ₹74.85 crore in monthly revenue for the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs), and to address rising operating costs.
However, the opposition parties like BJP, JD(S) and student wing ABVP [Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad] have criticized the move, arguing that the fare hike is a result of losses incurred by the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) owing to Karnataka’s Shakti Scheme, which offers free bus travel for women on State-run buses.
This decision has raised concern in the city of Karnataka among the public and the opposition parties.
On 6th January, Monday, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members have staged a protest against the increase of the KSRTC bus fares in Belagavi at Rani Parvati Devi (RPD College) circle.
In the Rani Parvati Devi Circle, the protestors have marched and shouted slogans against the State government, that caused an increase in bus fare by 15% across all the services operated by the state’s four Road Transport Corporations (RTCs).The protestors have demanded to immediately withdraw the fare hike.
The opposition parties have criticized the state government by stating that the increase in prices has been a burden on the poor, daily wage workers, and for the middle-class family.
They also stated that thousands of people depend on the government buses for travelling and to commute to their work places every day, and the fare hike will cause inconvenience for the travellers, which is totally not acceptable.
The ABVP members have demanded that the State Transport undertakings, should aim at increasing the number of buses and not the bus fare. There is awareness among the Government about the increase in the number of passengers, who are travelling in the bus daily, due to Shakti Yojana, but due to the lack of buses and service routes, it is not providing any benefit to the people.
Rohit Humnabadimath, an ABVP leader, said that students and employees are facing problem because they are not getting buses on time.
Meanwhile, Students were also severely affected by this. It also negatively impacted amongst the students who depend on the State transport buses, to reach their schools and colleges on a daily basis. Students are forced to walk to the schools and colleges or use private vehicles due to lack of public bused and as the available buses are always full of passengers and can no longer accommodate the students. For helping the students, the government should increase the number of buses and service routes to facilitate the travel of students and for the common people, they said.
Later, the ABVP leaders met the deputy commissioner on behalf of the protestors and a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister and the transport minister.
The members who were present in the protest are ABVP District Organizing Secretary Sachin Hiremath, City Secretary Rohit Alkunte, Leader Kushal Ghodageri, Prashant Shellikeri, and Manjunath Hanchinamani.