Private bus operators fleecing passengers amid Sankranti rush
Fares doubled on Hyd-Vijayawada, other routes to Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad: Taking advantage of the heavy rush of passengers for Sankranti festival, private bus operators have jacked up the ticket fares, adding to the strain on passengers heading home for the festival. Price of bus tickets from Hyderabad to various towns and cities in Telangana and neighboring states were doubled considering the huge demand.
Further, the private bus operators stopped selling tickets online and started offline bookings at selected points. The passengers complained that private bus operators were literally robbing them of their hard-earned money by charging abnormally high fares. There is a steep increase of 30-40 per cent in fares of private buses this year.
Private bus operators operate over 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.
For instance, the private bus operators who usually charge Rs 500 to 800 for a non-AC seater on normal days from Hyderabad and Vijayawada have increased the fare to Rs 1,200 for a one-way trip. AC sleeper bus ticket to Vijayawada from Hyderabad was hiked to Rs 3,000 and more considering the festive rush. Similarly, the bus fares that usually cost between Rs 1,200 and Rs 2,000 on AC services have climbed between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 and even more.
According to passengers, private buses provide last-minute travel options and are most suitable for the office goers in the city. They said that state-run buses were fully booked on preferred dates, forcing passengers to choose private buses.
This situation presents a lucrative opportunity for private bus operators, who often increase ticket prices, especially during the festivals. “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 Sampath, a techie. K Prashant, an IT professional, a native Vijayawada, said “In our case, the plan of visiting our native place is decided based on the clearance of leaves.
These private bus operators are taking advantage of the situation and increasing the fares. A few operators have purposely blocked the seats in order to sell the tickets at high fares at the last minute.”
