K'taka: Surge in pvt vehicles; buses far behind

Bengaluru | Monday | 18th March, 2019

Summary:

"It’s illogical to impose heavy tax on buses that carry more people than private vehicles. Ideally, there should be higher tax on private vehicles like cars to discourage their use. Karnataka levies one of the highest road taxes in the country on buses. However, the number of buses (stage carriages, contract carriages, private service, educational institution and other buses) registered increased from 62,508 to 1.06 lakh, an addition of just 44,404 vehicles during this period.Experts say buses occupy one-tenth of the road space per passenger as against private vehicles. With the transport department imposing high taxes, bus owners also pass on the burden to the common people..