Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Sept 12: Bengaluru residents heading home or planning festive getaways for Gowri-Ganesha celebrations are facing a steep shock, with private bus fares soaring as the festival coincides with the weekend holidays.
Passenger numbers heading out of Bengaluru to various districts have surged on Friday and Saturday, while fares for the return journey to the city on Tuesday and Wednesday have also reportedly doubled.
Vinayaka Chaturthi is being celebrated on Monday in several parts of Karnataka and on Tuesday in some other areas. With the festival break coinciding with the Saturday-Sunday weekend, thousands of people have begun leaving Bengaluru for their hometowns from Friday itself.
Private bus operators, citing the spike in demand, are reportedly charging three to four times the normal fare on several routes, leaving passengers with little choice but to pay the premium.
The Bengaluru-Hubballi fare, normally between Rs 650 and Rs 1,300, has shot up to Rs 1,500- Rs 4,000.
The Bengaluru-Mangaluru ticket, usually priced at Rs 700-1,400, is now costing passengers Rs 1,600-4,500. On the Bengaluru-Sirsi route, fares that generally range from Rs 700 to Rs 900 have climbed to Rs 2,000-2,500.
Bus tickets nearly at airfare levels
The steepest shock has come on the Bengaluru-Sirsi route, where tickets on some special buses have reportedly touched Rs 6,999 and Rs 7,999 — prices that have left passengers stunned.
One angry passenger took to social media to question the extraordinary fares: “Has the bus grown wings and turned into an aeroplane? I wanted to travel to Sirsi for Ganesh Chaturthi. After seeing the Bengaluru-Sirsi bus fare, I almost fainted.”
Passengers travelling towards Kundapura have also complained about a dramatic fare hike. Tickets on the Bengaluru-Kundapur route, which normally cost around Rs 1,510, are reportedly being sold for as much as Rs 4,999.
With the festival and weekend break triggering a rush for tickets, private bus operators have sharply increased fares on several routes, leaving Bengaluru passengers paying several times the usual price to make their festive journeys home.