The continuum of an unchecked loot

CHENNAI: For every festival season and weekend, it has been a billion-dollar question among people who take Omni buses to reach their respective destinations – will the government take steps to slash ticket fares prices? We all know the answer to that question now, as the private Omni operators charged exorbitant prices during this Deepavali festival too.

Many passengers who churned out a lump sum for a ticket at the last-minute had poured out their grief on social media. Many called the exorbitant fares as ‘day loot’, and rightfully so.

This reporter got an opportunity to have a glimpse of a counter statement from one of the Omni buses’ associations. The functionary of the association made an appeal to the public that people should not call the festival time ticket fare as ‘day loot’, and claimed that they were forced to charge such exorbitant fees.

We wonder…collecting Rs 2,500 for a place that’s merely 300 km away from Chennai - what is it then? Even if high taxes and inflation have spiked expenses of private companies, the public is reeling from the reasons too.

Without a price cap and proper monitoring mechanism (that should cover the private ticket booking apps too), nothing would change for Pongal holidays as well, which are just a couple of months away.

Would the transport authorities and Omni bus companies accommodate people without exploiting their savings?