It’s that time of the year again! Sankranti—the festival of harvest, joy, and the unspoken tradition of emptying your pockets for a bus ticket. With festivities around the corner, private bus operators have donned their Santa hats early, but instead of gifts, they’re delivering whopping fare hikes.
Take a seat, folks—if you can afford one, that is. Regular ticket prices for air-conditioned bus services, typically ranging from a modest Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,800 for a ride to Vijayawada, have taken a sky-high leap to a staggering Rs 5,000. Yes, you heard that right. That’s not an airfare, that’s a chair-on-wheels fare.
Private operators, bound by the moral duty of adhering to rtc fare limits, seem to have mastered the art of creative interpretation. Three times the regular price is, apparently, just them “celebrating” the season of giving—where you give and they take, unapologetically.
Families eager to reunite with loved ones are now calculating if their sentimentality for tradition is worth the cost of a small international vacation. After all, what’s more festive than starting the year with debt, right?
For those who can’t swallow this bitter fare pill, alternatives abound—if you’re okay with traveling at odd hours, cramming into overcrowded trains, or simply embracing the festival virtually on a Zoom call. Some may even consider staying back, hoping that skipping sankranti might become the next big tradition.
But let’s not be too harsh. These bus operators are simply doing their part to boost the economy… of their own pockets. After all, isn’t sankranti all about prosperity? If only we could all prosper as swiftly as the ticket fares!
So, this sankranti, as you shell out triple the price for a ticket, just remember—these operators are not overcharging. They’re merely helping you “value” the journey home a little more. Or, as they might argue, teaching you the fine art of sacrifice—what better way to honor tradition?
