Bus fares in the express lane

Prices of Dasara specials hiked to make up for empty return routes, stresses APSRTC

Dasara is around the corner, and no festival is complete without a family get-together. Even as people make travel plans to be with their family and friends for collective merriment, transport operators, primarily those in the private sector, gear up to make a killing by increasing the fares exorbitantly.

A scramble among middle-class families during festivals is commonplace. Trains being the first preference for low-ticket fares compared to buses, the waiting lists get longer, forcing many to find a bus to hop on to and reach their destination. The early birds manage to capture seats in the fleet of buses run by Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), the public transport giant that runs special buses during such occasions to clear the extra rush.