Omni Buses Have Free Run on Fares

The New Indian Express: Madurai: Monday, 14 July 2014.

It appears that omni bus operators can continue to fleece passengers, as the Transport Department has said that there is no provision to fix fares for these vehicles as per the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Act.

Responding to questions filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by the Madurai Consumer Protection Centre (MCPC), the Deputy Secretary at the office of the Transport Commissioner in Chennai said that omni buses were classified as “contract carriages” for which fares cannot be fixed. However, in contrast, answering another question, the official said that “If any omni bus is found charging more money from the passengers especially during festival times, action will be initiated against the vehicle owners.”

A startled MCPC general secretary G Muniyasamy wondered: “If no fares can be fixed, how could transport officials crack down on fleecing by the omni bus operators during festival times.” In fact, when no fares have been fixed, the officials would be in no position to determine the excess fare.

Muniyasamy had approached the Transport Commissioner as local the transport department officials in Madurai and Chennai had failed to respond to his previous applications under the RTI Act. Countering the claim of the transport department officials, Muniyasamy said as per the Motor Vehicles Act a fare can be fixed for deluxe buses taking the distance covered into consideration. “If an ultra deluxe bus covers a distance of over 200 km, then a passenger should be charged only 90 paise per km. for AC buses, it is `1.10 paise/km,” he contended.

However, omni bus operators charged nothing less than `750 for a trip from Madurai to Chennai on board an air-conditioned semi-sleeper coach, said G Abdul Khader, an entrepreneur, who travels by private buses. During festivals, the bus operators charge above `1,000 each.

Madurai Omni Bus and Travels Owners’ Association president A Mydeen Basha said, “This is similar to the flights where the ticket rates are fixed unilaterally by the respective airlines without government control. We should be allowed to fix our fares,” he argued.