Bengaluru: With the state government and private companies announcing a holiday for Vinayaka Chathurthi on Monday September 5, lakhs of city residents are getting ready to enjoy a weekend holiday outside the city.
This news comes as a bonanza for private bus operators, who have increased the cost of the bus fare to as much as three to four times the regular fare!
According to passengers, all the private bus operators have raised the fare and return fare for the nights of September 2 and September 4.
The fare between Bengaluru and Belagavi is now higher than the air fare. According to the agents, the fare is expected to shoot up even further in the next two or three days as several families are making last-minute travel plans.
Routine exercise: According to the bus operators, this is not the first time they are experiencing the festive rush. “Even the KSRTC has fixed a special fare for festival buses. Generally we get a demand for our tickets only once in a while. Based on the ticket demand we have revised our fare,” explained a bus operator.
What has made things worse for the passengers is that no train tickets are available due to the festival rush.
“I was planning to spend my weekend with my family in Chennai. But no train tickets are available. AC and multi axle bus fare has increased almost threefold. To add to our woes, only a few operators have tickets left with them and they are waiting for even higher demand,” lashed out Abhishek Kumar, a techie.
Special buses
In view of the Gowri-Ganesha festival, KSRTC has made elaborate arrangements for operating an average of 1,200 to 1,300 extra buses in addition to the existing ones to provide transport facilities to the traveling public between September 2 and 4. Special buses will be operated from various intra and interstate spots to Bengaluru.
Special buses will be exclusively operated from Bengaluru Kempegowda Bus Station to Dharmastala, Kukkesubramanya, Shivamogga, Hassan, Mangaluru, Kundapura, Shringeri, Horanadu, Davangere, Hubbali, Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Gokarna, Sirsi, Karwar, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Koppala, Yadgir, Bidar, Tirupathi and other places.
