People travelling from the capital towards coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continue to face hardships with RTC buses and most private ones staying off the road as part of the ongoing Samaikyandhra agitations.
Platforms No. 5 to 20 at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) in the capital wore a deserted look on Monday with all buses supposed to ply towards coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema being cancelled. Every day, about 250 buses are operated to Vijayawada and about 260 to Kurnool from the MGBS. For the last few days, however, all these buses have been cancelled.
The few private buses that operate from the capital to different regions are collecting exorbitant fares from passengers. On Saturday night, travel operators demanded Rs.1,500 per head from Hyderabad to Tirupati as against the regular fare of about Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,200, complained Prabhakar Reddy, a businessman.
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However, travel operators denied such complaints, claiming poor seat-occupancy ratio on buses. Only 40 per cent buses are being operated from Hyderabad to other regions and the seat occupancy ratio is not more than 30 per cent. There is no scope to charge exorbitant fares, said Ramakrishna of Kesineni Travels.
Trains appear to be the best alternative for people to travel though many appear to have postponed their journeys in view of agitations. But, SCR officials claim there is not much demand for trains from here towards the two regions rocked by protests.