Private Travel Fare Robbery: Ticket Prices Soar to ₹5,000 During Sankranti Festival

As the Sankranti festival draws near, many Telangana and Andhra Pradesh residents are getting ready to return home to celebrate with their loved ones. However, a startling rise in private travel ticket prices is overshadowing the festival's excitement for many. The cost of a bus ticket has increased to ₹5,000 for a trip that normally costs ₹1,000.

Only 350 kilometres separate Hyderabad and Ongole, making it one of the most impacted roads. Passengers are shocked when they discover that tickets for private travel that would typically cost ₹1,000 are now being charged ₹5,000. This sharp rise can be seen on travel websites with ease, and for many people, it feels like a financial hardship right before the festival. People's displeasure with this ticket price rise has drawn the attention of local media outlets, such as V6 News and other sources of the most recent Telugu news.

Take Advantage of the Sankranti Rush

One of the most popular occasions in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is the Sankranti festival, which attracts a lot of tourists returning home to be with their loved ones. Beginning on January 11, 2025, educational institutions will close, leaving families, staff, and students to relocate. But private travel companies have taken advantage of this rush and increased ticket prices to take advantage of the increased demand.

It is not just the Hyderabad-Ongole route that has seen price increases. The cost of tickets has also increased for private flights that connect important cities like Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Kurnool. For instance, the price of an ordinary AC bus ticket from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, which used to be between ₹1,000 and ₹1,800, has suddenly risen to ₹4,000 or ₹5,000. Since the cost of the trip now equals the cost of attending the festival, many travellers are reconsidering their vacation plans as a result of this significant increase.

Passengers Demand Government Action

Travellers, many of whom are struggling financially, have widely decried the sudden increase in ticket prices. Families who had originally planned to attend the event are now questioning the cost of the trip. The real increase in ticket costs has been much more severe, resulting in hikes of hundreds of rupees, even though a slight increase of ₹100 to ₹200 was expected.

Calls for government action to stop private travel's exploitation have increased as a result. In order to maintain reasonable ticket pricing during the Sankranti holiday, travellers are calling on the government to intervene. RTC buses operated by the state are supposed to provide some respite, but they are now overloaded, making travel even more challenging.

Even while private transit companies are required by law to match their ticket prices with the RTC's, several bus operators are flagrantly disregarding this requirement. Therefore, travellers are calling on the government to act now and implement laws that shield the people from unwarranted increases in fares.

Will the Government Take Action?

The main question remains whether the government would move to reduce the skyrocketing ticket prices and ease the financial burden on travellers, or if it will continue to permit private travel agencies to exploit the situation unchallenged, as the Sankranti holiday draws near. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, this issue has drawn a lot of attention, and many people are optimistic that the government would intervene before things get out of hand.