The Naypyitaw Supervisory Committee for Buses (Highway) chairman U Win Swe said bus fares would remain at normal rates, even though some Yangon-based highway bus operators had proposed a fare hike before the long festive holidays.

“We are not going to raise bus fares here. They will sell at normal price. 

“We had a meeting with bus liners and ticketing representatives, and told them not to raise the fares,” he told the media on Wednesday.

The Naypyitaw Supervisory Committee for Buses (highway), which monitors the connectivity between Nay Pyi Taw and 43 other cities, controls the bus fare to prevent hikes during the Thingyan season.

Action was taken against a ticketing rep, who overcharged passengers, in 2009. Since then the authorities had made sure no such cases repeated.

Frequent traveller U Myint Saung said the normal fare for Nay Pyi Taw was K6000 and K5000 for the Naypyitaw-Mandalay route.

“The fares are higher for the special buses. The elite bus liners provide coffee and snacks so they charge K9000 a ticket,” he said.

Meanwhile, U Win Swe also said the authorities were looking into ensuring there would be enough buses to ferry people back to their hometowns for the holidays.

“We are looking into arrangements to prevent problems this year too. We had no problems in previous years,” he said.

There will be 100 buses plying the Naypyitaw-Yangon route, after 25 buses are added to the current 75.

For the Naypyitaw-Mandalay route, another 15 buses will be added to the current 35.

There are 23 Naypyitaw-based highway bus operators and about 70 based in other cities entering Naypyitaw, under the supervision of the Naypyitaw Supervisory Committee for Buses (highway), which supervises the connectivity of Naypyitaw with other 43 cities.