Udupi : The Canara Bus Operators Association will hike bus fare of inter-district service Mangaluru or Kundapur buses on February 17 due to collection of toll at the toll plazas at Hejmady and Sasthan in Udupi district.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Sadananda Chatra, vice-president of the association, said that toll collection had started at the toll plazas at Hejmady and Sasthan.

To bear the heavy toll, buses under the association would collect a toll cess of Rs 3 per passenger from Friday.

Accordingly, a passenger would have to pay Rs 63 per ticket from Udupi to Mangaluru, up from the prevailing Rs 60.

Similarly, a passenger going from Udupi to Kundapur would have to pay Rs 43 up from Rs 40, he said.

Mr. Chatra said that the bus operators had to pay a toll of Rs. 195 per trip (to and fro) for a bus at Sasthan, while Rs 160 was being collected per trip at Hejmady. As per the government norms, the bus operators had to divide the toll amount equally and collect it from the passengers.

Hence, it had become necessary to increase the fare by Rs 5 per passenger. “But our association has decided to collect Rs 3 per passenger instead of Rs 5 per passenger. We seek the cooperation of all passengers,” he said.

In addition, the association had decided that it would not collect any toll cess from passengers who did not pass through the toll plaza. For instance, a passenger going from Udupi to Brahmavar will not have to pay the toll cess of Rs 3 as he did not pass through the toll plaza.

Already, about 25,000 passengers were using the radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards on buses operated by the association and availing concession on their daily journey. This facility would continue. The association would also be introducing pre-paid cash cards for the benefit of passengers from next month, Mr. Chatra said.