Bengaluru : The state government has hiked the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus fares by 12% with effect from 12 am on Wednesday. The hike will also apply to NEKRTC and NWKRTC.

Passengers who paid Rs 125 to travel to Mysuru will have to shell out Rs 140, while those on longer routes have to pay more from Wednesday. For those travelling in sleeper buses and Rajahamsa, the hike may go beyond Rs 100.

The KSRTC has tried to soften the price blow for short distance travellers by not increasing fares for the first 12 and 15 km in ordinary services and reducing the fare for the first 3 km from Rs 7 to Rs 5. For express services, the fare of the first 6 km has been left untouched.

KSRTC managing director Shivayogi Kalasad said the decision was taken on Tuesday morning and the government approval has come more than a year after the corporation made the proposal for the hike.

“We had asked for a hike of 20% in the fares due to the increase in the operational costs. The price of oil has been going up over the last two years and so is employee salaries,” Kalasad told.

A press release by the KSRTC said there was no increase of fares on passes issued to students and physically challenged persons.

The corporation stated that the rising fuel prices have led to annual financial burden of Rs 260.83 crore on the corporation. In addition to this, the corporation has factored in increase of allowances given to employees. “Overall increase in the operational cost is Rs 601.21 crore per annum,” the release stated.

The move is likely to hit the common man hard. In September 2018, the Transport Department’s decision to hike the fare by 18% was rolled back within an hour as the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had stepped in to revoke the decision.

Urban Transport activist Sanjeev Dyamannavar said people will shift to train services where available.”Most affected will be passengers in coastal religion Mangaluru, Karwar, Udupi as well as those in places like Bidar and Kalaburagi where the number of trains are limited,” he said.