Sankranti Rush: Pvt bus operators fleece passengers across State

Hyderabad: Come Sankranti season and the rush in public transport gets chaotic. Like previous years, bus stations in the city witnessed heavy rush of passengers as the citizens were seen leaving to their native places for Sankranti. Following the heavy rush, private bus operators have jacked up the fares for buses plying on several routes across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Exorbitant fares being collected by private buses during festivals have put the passengers in a tight spot as they are unable to find any other alternative. There is a steep increase of 30-40 per cent in fares of private buses for Sankranti this year. Private bus operators operate more than 1,200 buses daily mainly to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka destinations. Hyderabad-Vijayawada sector is the busiest route and Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Nellore are also major destinations during the Sankranti season.

While RTC has decided not to hike the fares in special buses too this time, it is learnt that the hike in fares in private buses is around 50 per cent extra compared to the RTC fares. Passengers are forced to book tickets by paying Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,800 for a semi-sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam, while the charge for Hyderabad to Nellore route is between Rs 1,600 and Rs 2,500, and Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,200 for Hyderabad-Vijayawada. However, operators defend citing rising fuel costs and less seat occupancy while returning.

According to passengers, private buses provide last-minute travel options and is most suitable for the office goers in the city. They said that most of the state-run buses were booked on the suitable dates and the passengers had to opt for private buses. This turns out to be an opportunity for private bus operators who hike ticket fares. In the absence of any strict policy guidelines, private bus operators are at liberty to fix the fares as much as they like, and passengers have no choice but to pay for over-priced tickets to travel on the feasible dates," said V Suresh Kumar, a resident of Sanathnagar.

S Suresh, an IT professional, a native Srikakulam said "In our case, the plan of visiting our native place is decided based on the clearance of leaves and private bus operators are taking advantage of the people's urge to travel during the festive season. A few operators have purposely stalled the seats in order to sell the tickets at high fares."

The bus services between Hyderabad-Tirupati RTC is charging Rs 950 for semi-luxury, Rs 1,500 for Volvo and Rs 1,600 for sleeper buses. In the same route, the fares in the private buses range from Rs 1,600-1,800 for sleeper class, Rs 2,300-2,500 in Volvo and Rs 2,300 to 2,900 in sleeper services.

Meanwhile, bus tickets between Hyderabad-Nellore and Hyderabad-Tirupati usually priced at Rs 850-1,600 and Rs 900-1,650 respectively are now sold at Rs 1,200-1,900 and Rs 1,600-2,400 and the fares would be increased more when the festival is around the corner.

Though RTC fares are lesser than private bus fares, passengers generally prefer private bus services to get more facilities besides flexibility in pick-up and dropping points. Also, private services are available at different timings and the passengers can choose their convenient time to travel.