Long weekends are a good reason to get away from the city and Bangaloreans are not holding back, despite steep hikes in tickets. With tickets being sold out to destinations like Hyderabad, Tirupati, Pune and Goa, KSRTC plans to deploy about 500 more buses to places outside Karnataka and 400 buses to destinations within the state.
Hill stations near Chikmagalur, free of traffic or pollution, are Prathiksha Gowda’s (a software engineer with Infosys) destination of choice. “We spend almost 50 hours a week in front of a computer in a closed air-conditioned cubicle. These long weekends give us an opportunity to visit places that we don’t get to see every day,” she said.
Shantesh Gogi, a web developer at Creative Services, looks forward to not being on call 24/7. “Where I plan to go (Chikmagalur) there will hardly be any network. I can relax and not worry about clients or projects,” he said.
But the weekend coming at the month-end and the high prices are making a dent on many’s plans - like Prashanth Narayan, a graphic designer.
“I was planning on going to Hyderabad with my family, but realised that the expenses are too much. It would cost me Rs 12,000 for one ticket to Hyderabad by flight and Rs 4,000 at least if I chose to go by bus. As this is the month end, I simply could not afford it,” he said.
Chandu, Rama RKD Tours and Travels, said that the increase in prices are between Rs 400 and Rs 2,200.
Domestic airlines from Bangalore to destinations like Delhi and Mumbai too have increased ticket prices. “Tickets that usually cost about Rs 4,500 in off season, now costs Rs 13,000 per seat. But this has not really stopped people from travelling, especially considering that this is the festival season and people want to be with their families. Most flights are completely booked,” said Anand from Global Wide Travels.
The steep prices, although a concern, have not deterred many travellers. “It is worth it - spending money on going to a place that can help you relax and enjoy yourself,” Prathiksha said.
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