June 19: The recent increase in fuel price is having an impact on transportation services in the country. Druk Air has cut down the number of scheduled flights and is considering raising the fuel surcharge.

Officials from Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) say the bus and taxi fares are also likely to increase.

In the face of skyrocketing fuel price, bus operators and taxi drivers have submitted petitions to the RSTA to revise the fares. RSTA officials said they are discussing the matter with the Ministry of Information and Communications. RSTA officials said the revised fare is expected to come into effect from next month.

Some of the people in the capital who regularly use taxi service say some taxi drivers are already charging more.

Taxi drivers said with the fuel price hike, they have no choice but to increase the fare.

Meanwhile, the Druk Air Corporation has already cut down the number of flights. Tandin Jamso, the Managing Director of Druk Air Corporation said flights to Bangkok have been reduced from eight to six in a week. He said another two flights, one to Calcutta and other to Dhaka will be withdrawn soon. The corporation is also considering raising its fuel surcharge. Fuel surcharge is tax in addition to the fare, imposed on per ticket basis to recover increase in cost of fuel.

The fuel price hike came into effect from June 6.