Officials of the union urban development ministry suggested the Indore civic body and the Atal Indore City Transport Services (AICTSL) to create a dedicated urban transport fund.

AICTSL is operating the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city and it is earning around Rs 58 per kilometre through fare. AICTSL has to pay Rs 56 for operation and maintenance of ibus. So as of now, ibus is able to recover its operation and maintenance cost from fare collection, but this is not enough as there are other costs that are involved, reports indicate.

According to the national urban transport policy, a public transport system should earn 40 percent of its revenue from sources other than fare.

Urban transport and Joint Secretary Union ministry of urban development SK Lohia has called for creation of a dedicated fund for the operation, maintenance and development of public transport system in the city.

He said this while visiting the city with a team of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) to inspect BRTS works.

Lohia said he was informed by local officials that a proposal in this regard has been sent to state government for approval. He suggested that civic body should increase the FAR (floor area ratio) and tax on additional facilities and the money collected from it should be transferred to dedicated urban transport fund.