Bus fares shoot up ahead of Deepavali
The Hindu
Private AC bus ticket to Tirunelveli costs as high as ₹2,000 as operators ignore govt.’s warnings
Going home for Deepavali festival from Chennai could cost a fortune.
There have been reports that cashing in on the festival rush, private bus operators have increased fares steeply and are fleecing passengers ignoring the warning from the authorities.
S. Paul Raj, a shopkeeper in Adambakkam, said, “We don’t have direct train to our native near Thisayanvilai in Tirunelveli district. For puja holidays, we were not able to get seat in State-run special buses because we planned our travel in the last minute. Hence, we had to pay ₹2,000 a person in a non-AC omnibus. It is daylight robbery. You can imagine the cost for a family of four and the earnings of three months were spent. For this Deepavali, they have already increased the price. We don’t know how we will go home to celebrate the festival.”