Festival seasons bring enormous crowds to the railway station and bus stations with people criss-crossing their way to join their loved ones to spend quality time.
This year is no different. The Vijayawada Railway Station and the Pandit Nehru Bus Station of the APSRTC are chock-a-block with people everywhere. With just a couple of days left for Sankranti, a major festival for Telugu people, the railway and bus stations have been witnessing heavy crowds for the last couple of days. At PNBS, the cloakroom is overflowing with the baggage of the travellers strewn outside the room. People are having a tough time finding their bags amidst the mound of luggage. The rows of benches meant for waiting passengers are all full and the spillover occupy the aisle. To cater to the rush, the RTC authorities have pressed into service extra buses.
This season brings in additional revenue, admits Regional Manager P. V. Rama Rao. On Wednesday, the corporation earned revenue to the tune of Rs. 1.5 crore and on Thursday, it rose to Rs. 1.8 crore. “It is on the lines of last year,” he says.
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Additional buses
The 90 additional buses pressed into service on Wednesday on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad route were increased to 140 on Thursday. Six additional buses were also deployed each on the Vijayawada-Chennai and Vijayawada-Bengaluru routes. This is in addition to the 60 extra buses plying locally to cater to the transport needs of people in and around Vijayawada city. “Generally, the festival season brings us a revenue of Rs. 2 crore. We hope it’s the same this year,” says Mr. Rama Rao.
The Vijayawada railway station sports a similar look. There are huge crowds in every platform boarding and disembarking from trains moving in different directions.
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Women, with toddlers and infants especially, prefer the comfort of train journey and contribute a great deal to the milling crowd.