Omnibus fares continue to burn pockets this Diwali season too

tnn | Oct 16, 2017, 00:36 IST

Madurai: Omnibus fares are proof that people prefer to celebrate Diwali in smaller cities and most of the metro dwellers vie on each other to come to their home towns, as bus fares from Madurai to Bengaluru or Chennai on Oct 17, the day before Diwali is three times lesser than the fare on the same route to Madurai, as private bus fares have skyrocketed.

You can travel comfortably on a Scania bus, which offers more comfort than an economy seat on a flight, from Madurai to Bangalore the day before Diwali, for as much as Rs606. But, if you are planning to come to Madurai or the southern district on the same carrier you will have to pay Rs 1100 or more if you do not book it much in advance.

M Shankar of Srivilliputtur says that he works in a small hotel, in Bangalore and was making his second trip to his hometown for the year. "I did not have money to book my ticket in advance, so now I booked my ticket on Sunday on a non a/c sleeper and the ticket has gone upto Rs 1800, which is almost quarter of my salary," he said.

K Revathy, who works in an IT firm in Chennai says that she had found most of the normal tickets to Chennai sold out on Oct 22, for her return to Chennai. Now, she had booked a ticket for Rs 1599 on a sleeper coach in a bus, on which she had travelled for Rs 600 last week.

Gone are the days, when you had to travel in a crampy bus, on such long journeys, but some buses have emerged on the online booking site, where a Madurai to Chennai journey can be done for as much as Rs880 if they don't mind travelling in a pushback seat, which will be the highest comfort offered in this vehicle, with wide open windows and of course no assurance of whether it would be a male or female who will be sitting next to you.

"An a/c second class ticket from Bangalore to Madurai, on tatkal costs only Rs 1500, but here I am paying Rs1800 for a ticket," said Debashree D from Bangalore.

Meanwhile, the major bus stands in Madurai Maatuthavani and Arapalayam, from where many omni buses go are swarming with touts, who are ready to put you on a bus to ensure that you reach your destination after Diwali from Madurai, but the fare would be higher.

Operators of Omni buses, who are selling the hiked tickets at the counters in the Mattuthavani omni bus stand say, that they have to do as all others do and that they have to receive any directive from the authorities. RTO sources say that checks would be conducted after the festival to check the ticket fares, when many leave the city.