Bhubaneswar: Travelling by private buses in Odisha will get costlier after the state govt on Thursday notified a new fare structure for stage carriage buses, raising fares across all major categories and introducing new premium segments.Under the revised rates, fare for ordinary buses has been hiked from 92 paise per km to Rs 1.18 per km, a rise of 28%. Express bus fares have gone up from 96 paise to Rs 1.24 per km, while AC deluxe fares are up from Rs 1.63 to Rs 1.99 per km.The new fare notification replaces rates that were last revised in June based on fluctuations in diesel prices. While the earlier fare structure had five categories, the new regime has seven categories, including newly introduced semi-deluxe and super premium fully sleeper AC coach services.A comparison shows that an ordinary bus passenger travelling 100 km will now pay around Rs 118 against Rs 92 earlier. The fare for the same distance in an express bus will increase from Rs 96 to Rs 124.The biggest impact will be on premium services. The fare for the erstwhile super deluxe category was Rs 2.53 per km. Under the new system, super premium buses can charge up to Rs 3.21 per km, almost 27% higher. Fully sleeper AC coaches, a new category, can charge as much as Rs 4.61 per berth per km.For a 300-km journey, a passenger travelling in a super premium bus may have to pay up to Rs 963 compared to Rs 759 under the earlier super deluxe category. In AC deluxe buses, the fare for the same distance will rise from Rs 489 to Rs 597.The notification stated that the fare of AC deluxe buses has been hiked from Rs 1.63 to Rs 1.99 per km. The fare of the new category of semi-deluxe bus is Rs 1.30 per km.Bus fares are revised based on 13 parameters set by the govt. These include hikes in costs of buses, chassis, bodies, lubricants, tyres, manpower, bank interest and other factors, in addition to diesel price hikes.All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association general secretary Debendra Kumar Sahoo said they welcomed the decision, but govt should fulfil their other demands too.