Hyderabad: Sankranti bus fares soar like kites

Hyderabad: Capitalising on the holiday passenger rush to Andhra Pradesh for Sankranti, the TSRTC as well as the private bus operators have hiked ticket fare.

While the TSRTC has increased the fares by 50 per cent, a cursory search for tickets on web portals of popular travel aggregators reveals that they are charging four times the normal fare. On the other hand, all trains are booked full and no tickets are available.

According to TSRTC Regional Manager Varaprasad, the hike in bus fare for long distance routes like Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru would be 50 percent over the normal rates. The corporation expects heavy rush of passengers from January 10 onwards and the buses would be operated based on the demand.

He said on January 10 the Corporation would operate 965 buses, on January 11, 1,463 buses, on January 12, 1,181 and on January 13, it would run 1,152 buses. Buses would start from different locations in the city not just Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station. The buses going towards Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar would start from Jubilee Bus Station.

The buses going towards Nalgonda, Miryalguda and Vijayawada would start from LB Nagar, buses towards Warangal and Yadadri from Uppal crossroads and buses going towards Mahbubnagar would start from Aramgarh.

In case of passengers unknowingly coming to MGBS, they would be ferried through the city buses and there would be one bus for every ten minutes. The TSRTC hopes to mop up Rs 6 crore revenue during this period. The private operators are also gearing up for cashing in on the festive demand.

For example, the Orange Travels has quoted Rs 3,800 for a ticket in Platinum Volvo multi-axle sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Vijayawada on January 11. It has also quoted Rs 2,600 for a ticket in a/c bus from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. Same ticket in TSRTC would cost Rs 620 during normal days and during festive rush it would cost Rs 910.