Cancellation of long-distance RTC services for security reasons after the arrest of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday evening hit passengers hard throwing their travel plans awry.
Services to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati, Chennai, and Bangalore were cancelled, and the buses that had already left returned to Dwarakanagar Bus Station.
In all, 20 services were cancelled in the evening affecting more than 1,000 passengers.
RTC Regional Manager Jagadish Babu said since buses were not allowed to operate beyond Vijayawada, there was no point in sending long-distance services since it would put passengers to hardship. Fare was refunded through two counters.
Heavy security was arranged at the bus station as a large number of police were deployed. Besides, a fire tender and anti-riot vehicle ‘Vajra' was also stationed there. Similar security arrangements were made at three or four important junctions to tackle with any untoward incident.
Alternative modes
Anxious passengers had to either cancel their journey, take alternative mode of transport such as train or flight tomorrow. Those who booked tickets online had to struggle hard as the website did not accept cancellation though authorities maintained that back-end adjustment up to five hours was made.
B. Venkat of Ramnagar going to Bangalore with a girl tried cancelling the ticket on his laptop, but the website did not accept it. RTC officials said a copy of ticket should be given to them so as to send the details for cancellation.
Tourists stranded
Buses that had already left retuned. Chennai-bound Volvo bus that left the city at 5.30 p.m. returned from Nakkapalli, about 80 km away.
Tourists also had a tough time with the sudden cancellation of buses. BSNL employee Bhagawan and his wife Sridevi, who have come with their child on vacation to Visakhapatnam, checked out of the hotel to catch a bus to Vijayawada. Following cancellation of buses, they had to make alternative arrangements.
Several youth, who had thronged the bus station after completion of the Group I examination of the APPSC, the SBI and the Staff Selection Commission examination to return to their places, were enquiring frenetically whether buses would ply to the nearby towns. RTC officials said buses to the neighbouring districts would be run.
