Ahead of Diwali, bus fares have spiked extensively, giving tough competition to flight fares in Bengaluru.
Flight fares are much cheaper
Surprisingly, Bus fares from Karnataka’s capital to Hubballi were charged around Rs 5,000 per passenger. A Twitter page called Hubballi-Dharwad Infra shared screenshots comparing bus and flight fares from Bengaluru to Hubballi.
Bus fares in between Bengaluru and Hubballi giving tough competition to flights?
And @SWRRLY is yet to notify special trains for Deepavali@sriramulubjp sir for your information!#Hubballi #Bengaluru #Deepavali #DeepavaliSpecial pic.twitter.com/YUnQrSJlQv
— Hubballi-Dharwad Infra (@Hubballi_Infra) October 19, 2022
Netizens react
KSRTC has 54 services on 21st Oct to Hubballi and 39 services to Dharwad, with seats still available . Private buses should and always be the last option. Yes, very unfortunate that Railways hasn’t announced any special service till now. pic.twitter.com/Ze4nsBDO0F
— Atul Sharma ?? (@atul_sharma91) October 19, 2022
Better carpool. Just a 6-7 hr drive
— Venkatramana Siddheshwar (@Vsidd1968) October 19, 2022
Where is RTO now @tdkarnataka, they were checking last time for excess fare charged
— Hublicity-eGroup (@HubliCityeGroup) October 19, 2022
I saw RTO inspection vehicle stopped in navarang pickup point during dasara season and doing nothing to stop this loot….
— avinash acharya (@acharya91) October 19, 2022
Stop RTO / police harrasement , this is the cost people have to pay ,
— Prashanth (@eecprash) October 19, 2022
Ksrtc should jump in this situation with extra buses in these festivals but they don't! There are hardly 5-6 buses ac sleepers and volvo !
And they tell Ksrtc runs in losses ! Ksrtc are the best in service ? but they should takes such opportunities— Dixit Jain (@djdix) October 19, 2022
Meanwhile, the government has announced 1,500 special buses during Diwali. The buses will be running exclusively from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS) to places like Dharmastala, Kukkesubramanya, Shivamogga, Hassan, Mangaluru, Kundapura, Shringeri, Horanadu, Davangere, Hubball, Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Gokarna, Sirsi, Karwar, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Koppala, Yadgir, Bidar.
Also, the Karnataka Transport minister informed that the state government is aiming to convert all 35,000 buses into electric buses by 2030, reported The Mint.
“There are about 35,000 buses, there is a demand to make all buses electric, keeping in mind environment and pollution-related concerns. With diesel prices increasing, we are incurring losses. We want all our buses to become electric and we start making profits.. discussions are on in this regard,” state’s Transport Minister B Sriramulu said, reported The Mint.
“It is our ambition that all our buses become electric by 2030. We will make all efforts so that all the 35,000 buses will be converted to electric by 2030,” he said, adding that diesel buses incur a cost of Rs 68.53 per km. According to the Minister, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) does not purchase electric buses but is operating them on a contract basis.
He further informed that BMTC under the Smart City Project is operating 90 electric buses since December 2021 under a ‘Gross Cost Contract’ for 12 years, and the per kilometer (km) cost of these buses is Rs 64.67. Under the central government’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric vehicles – FAME II scheme, 300 electric buses have been ordered, and out of the 75 buses have begun operation since August 15, 2022, and the per km cost of these buses is Rs 61.90. Further, under the Centre’s FAME II scheme an order has been issued on August 17, 2022, to operate 921 electric buses through Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL); per km cost of these buses is Rs 54, he noted.
