Hyderabad: Even as the tourism department struggles to get passengers for its buses, private bus operators are doing brisk business on selected routes.
According to Mr B. Pravin of Orange Travels, up to 70 buses ply to Shirdi and Tirupati every day and 200 every day to Bengaluru.
“Passengers who plan tours (one-day or two-day visits), or who plan visits to pilgrim centres at a short notice, prefer private bus travel. The travel timings suit them because after an overnight journey they have a full day to complete darshan before returning the same night. Also, the sleeper facility is a big hit,” he said.
The tourism department does not offer sleeper facilities on its buses. The private tour operators also feel the pinch of the border tax per seat levied by the AP government for running buses on routes like Tirupati but they seem to be handling the situation better.
