The trips being made by residents have come down after the cyclone. They are not going out expect on important business, according to a Rangoon resident.
The residents have to pay 1,500 Kyat for a one way full trip. But even for a short trip, they have to pay 500 Kyat. Private taxis are charging a lot more.
"Some people went about their work on bicycles to avoid paying exorbitant bus fares. It will take about a month for normal situation to return," a NGO staff in Rangoon said.
Today the cost of diesel oil was about 9,500 Kyat per gallon and petrol was over 10,000 Kyat per gallon after cyclone Nargis lashed Rangoon and Irrawaddy division. Before the storm, diesel oil was 4,700 Kyat and petrol was 4,200 Kyat in Rangoon .
The buses are infrequent around Rangoon because there is hardly any power supply after the storm, said a Rangoon resident.
According to a Mudon resident staying in Rangoon , "The quarter we live in had a lot of big trees along the road, but those were uprooted after cyclone Nargis."
Most bus lines in Rangoon use CNG and a few use gasoline.
The travelling costs around Rangoon have been mounting after the Burmese government increased the price of fuel in August 2007. People, students, and monks demonstrated peacefully demanding a roll back of the price but the junta came down on them heavily.
