Private operators make a killing

Hyderabad: Private bus operators have suddenly increased fares by taking advantage of demand during the Sankranti festival season. Private operators are charging three times the normal ticket price making it rough on the wallet of citizens.

The TSRTC had been running 3,262 special buses, apart from the regular services for next three to four days. A total of 1,352 buses would be operated to districts in Andhra Pradesh and remaining in Telangana and neighbouring States. The RTC has already declared that it would collect 50 per cent extra fare for the long-distance buses. The officials said the online bookings are closed and no seats were available. 

A senior official told the Hans India “The online bookings of TSRTC for January 12 and 13 had already been occupied and the Corporation was expecting heavy rush from Friday onwards in the special buses.” With the official website of TSRTC showing no tickets available, the private operators swung into action and the tickets fares are increased three to four times to the normal fares for the long-distance buses to Andhra Pradesh.

For instance, for a ticket to Vijayawada from Hyderabad in a Volvo A/c multi-axle semi sleeper an RTC ticket would cost Rs 497, but the Diwakar Travels quoted Rs 2,940 for a journey on January 12. Similarly, for a ticket to Rajamahendravaram (Volvo multi axle), RTC ticket would cost Rs 660. The RTC site showed a waiting list of five seats. The Diwakar travels quoted Rs 2,800 and showed an availability of only one seat. The Ramana Tours and Travels quoted fare as Rs 1,650, the SVR Tours and Travels quoted Rs 1,790, Komitla travels quoted Rs 2,390, according to the fares available on the Redbus website.

For Hyderabad to Guntur, the RTC ticket would cost Rs 550, but the private operators are charging over Rs 1,500. The Orange tours and Travels quoted Rs 1,700, Sri Srinivasa Travels quoted Rs 1,450. The private operators charged more wherever there was a demand for the tickets. The Hyderabad-Bengaluru, which is more in terms of distance compared to the districts in Andhra Pradesh, is charged less. In this section over 550 km the private operators are charging between Rs 600 and Rs 900.

The TSRTC officials said, “The passengers can opt for the special buses for safe and economical journey.” The special buses would be starting from various parts of the city including Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), Jubilee Bus Station (JBS), Uppal Cross roads, L B Nagar, Lingampally, Chandanagar, ECIL, KPHB, S R Nagar, Ameerpet, Telephone Bhavan, Dilsukhnagar and other important points in various colonies in GHMC.