Raja Parthamaha is eagerly looking forward to a 2,000-km bus journey from Ernakulam in Kerala to his home town in Odisha in March 2024 when his daughter would be celebrating her birthday.
Having arrived in Kerala in search of a job 12 years ago, he is employed at a supermarket at Angamaly, while his family comprising wife and two daughters are residing in Kandhamal, Odisha. Many like him prefer the bus due to the difficulty in getting confirmed train tickets and also because the nearest railway station from their home town is often 100 km or more away.
The trend of travelling by bus to their home towns, which caught up during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020-21, is continuing, thanks to the direct service from locales in Ernakulam to half a dozen districts in Odisha. The per-person fare is in the ₹2,500-₹3,500 range, depending on the season.
Improved amenities
“The buses which operate in the corridor now come with push-back seats and are comfortable. A sleeper bus that was introduced some time ago at ₹4,000 per person was withdrawn a few months ago, probably due to inadequate patronage. Many workers consider the bus safer and comfortable than the crammed general coaches of trains,” says Mr. Parthamaha.
It is not just the migrant workforce that depends on the bus service that operates from Ernakulam on Sunday evenings and arrives in Odisha on Tuesday afternoon, to make its return trip from Odisha that very evening.
Many nuns and priests from Kerala who are based in remote areas of Odisha too opt for it when faced with difficulty in getting train tickets, says a Malayali priest of the Vincentian Church, who is now based at a convent in Gajapati district.
“In August, a priest from Kerala who is in his late seventies opted for the bus trip since getting a train ticket was tough. This is my fourth year in Odisha, before which I was in the northeastern States for 14 years. Apart from travel, many of us depend on the bus to ferry goods from Kerala. Over the years, better-quality buses were introduced, while hygiene too has improved thanks to better awareness among workers and other passengers.”
The priest, who hails from Ernakulam, got acquainted with the bus operator after many of the bus passengers began to alight at the convent which is located on the road side to freshen up. Such bus services will get more patronage if the fare is reduced, he says.
Factories’ bulk booking
Tito M.J., whose Excel Cabs operates the bus service, says they charge ₹3,500 when there are vacant seats to cover the operational costs. “There is generally more demand for travel to Kerala since owners of factories and other firms here do bulk booking to ferry workers as soon as possible. The passengers are mostly in the 18 to 30 age group. Many of them return to Odisha after learning a skill in Kerala and get employed there.”
Food en route is arranged from select hotels and ‘dhabas’. The workers mostly prefer rice. There are two crew members who take turns in driving. “Nowadays, we have a spare bus in Odisha to adhere to the norms of an online bus aggregator firm,” he added.
Convenient mobility option
The availability of end-to-end mobility from Kerala in the form of buses is a big help to workers, many of whom have to otherwise spend a day to travel to their house from the nearest railway station, says Benoy Peter, Executive Director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.
“The bus option emerged during the pandemic and caught on. An estimated ₹18 crore is the monthly remittance in Kandhamal by the migrant workforce. Proof of this can be seen in the form of bigger, better-built houses than during yesteryears. Migrant workers are also preferred for marriages and they tend to get loans faster,” he says.
