Bus operators fleece citizens

Visakhapatnam: If you have plans of travelling and have failed to get a confirmed train or APSRTC ticket, then be ready to shell out a fortune on private bus service operators.

While the ticket prices remain exorbitant all round the year, they have sky rocketed with the ongoing vacation season.

Private bus services are charging anywhere between Rs 2000-3000 for AC bus and between Rs 1300-1800 for non-AC service to destinations like Hyderabad, Tirupati, Bengaluru and Chennai. Speaking to a few well-known private bus operators revealed their absolute recklessness and lack of respect towards consumer rights.

When this reporter called a travel operator at their office in Hyderabad and asked the reason behind exorbitant fare hike, an official said that it is because “there are not enough passengers in the city.” When another travel operator  was enquired about the same, an official bluntly said that during normal days the business is not good, hence they have to hike the prices during holiday season.

Same is the case with every well-known private bus operator. The lowest priced AC bus ticket among all the available routes from Vizag was Rs 1,800 for travel on Monday.

Private bus operators based in Bengaluru who operate services in Andhra Pradesh were the one charging highest bus fare. While the ticket prices soar, there exists no mechanism for keeping the prices under control.

A senior official from the Road Transport Authority, said, “While the prices of APSRTC are regulated there exists no mechanism for pricing by private bus operators. When we penalise any private bus operator on receiving complaint, they counter argue that while airline operators have the right to increase fares as and when they want, why cannot bus operators do the same.” The RTA official further said that they have launched a special drive to penalise private bus operators charging exorbitant ticket fares and about eight buses have been penalised till now.

More trains needed to clear festival rush

Though the railways are running around 30 special premium express trains from various destinations, they have given very less priority to Vizag.

They have introduced some special trains between Howrah and Secunderabad, Bhubaneswar-Bengaluru, Santragachi-Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar-Tirupati, Sambalpur-Yaswanthapur, Guwahati-Kochuveli, Guwahati-Secunderabad till end of the year. But the authorities have ignored Visakhapatnam and have not listen the demands of Vizag people. They have introduced only one train to Tirupati and three trains to Secunderabad.

Due to scarcity of trains the passengers are approaching the buses, but the bus fares are very high and the commuters are unable to bear it. So the demand is high to start more number of trains from Vizag. Passengers of Vizag are unable to get tickets and sometimes they are taking them from the station where the train starts.

The situation has forced the passengers to approach the private buses which is unbearable to the common passengers. Thousands of people belonging to coastal districts are residing at Hyderabad doing various jobs and they came to their native districts to celebrate Dasara festival. After the festival they are leaving for their cities where they are working.

V. Gowri Sankar, a B.tech graduate, said ‘I have to attend an interview at Hyderabad on Tuesday. I have taken a ticket from a private bus operator as I cannot get a train ticket.”