Omnibuses fleece passengers returning to Chennai after long weekend
Massive hikes in the omnibus ticket fares have become a recurring issue during the long weekends and festival holidays.
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CHENNAI: Passengers returning to Chennai from their native places after the Milad-Un-Nabi and Gandhi Jayanthi long weekend holidays complain that omnibuses are fleecing them by hiking the ticket fares two to three times the regular fares.
The bus operators are charging up to Rs 3,500 from one person for travelling to Chennai from Madurai, Rs 3,000 from Tiruchirapalli, Rs 3,850 from Nagercoil, and Rs 4,000 from Coimbatore as against the normal fares in the range of Rs 1500 to Rs 2500 in the AC sleepers.
K Ashok Kumar, a native of Madurai, who works in a private company in the city, has spent Rs 3200 for an AC sleeper ticket to Chennai on Sunday night.
"I always used to travel by the train to my native place. Due to the non-availability of a train ticket, I had to return to Chennai on Monday after leaving my wife and children for the vacation. I was shocked to find the omnibus tickets have gone up from Rs 1400-1500 in the AC sleeper to Rs 3,200," he said.
Massive hikes in the omnibus ticket fares have become a recurring issue during the long weekends and festival holidays.
S Mahendran, a salesperson in Chennai, who has gone to his native Thoothukudi, said that the government should take action on the omnibus operators for steeply increasing the ticket fares.
"I normally visit my hometown during the festival period and long weekends but am forced to spend heavily on tickets. The government should force the omnibus operators to charge nominally or increase the number of train services to Southern districts, " he said.
All Omni Bus Owners Association president A Anbalagain said that some of the operators were charged excessively on Sunday.
"We have asked them to charge the fares as fixed by the association and to refund the excess fares to the passengers. Some buses operating from Kerala and non-association operators are charging exorbitantly.
The Transport Commission has formed special squads to check the omnibuses on ticket fares, " he said, adding that the association would work with the Transport zonal officials in Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli to ensure such incidents are not repeated during the Deepavali festival.