HYDERABAD: With voters of Seemandhra origin making a beeline to Andhra Pradesh to cast their votes on April 11, there is a mad rush for bus and train tickets which has seen a surge of up to 50 per cent in ticket prices.
Take for instance semi sleeper buses from Hyderabad to Vijayawada which are priced at Rs 550 are now priced at Rs 1, 200 on April 9 and Rs 1,800 on April 10, indicating a three-fold increase in prices.
Sarish G, a software employee in Hyderabad, plans to travel home to AP to cast his vote. However, he was in for a shock with bus prices touching the roof.
''It is so unethical of these private bus operators to hike the ticket rates which is creating difficulty for us," he said.
The situation is same with all the trains also. Majority of the trains booked for Vijayawada on April 10 are running in waiting list going up to 179 in third AC, and trains to Visakhapatnam up to waiting list 395. Some trains like Garib Rath from Secunderabad to Vijayawada have also completely stopped taking in reservations in third AC to Vijayawada and Vizag.
"We thought of going in the Lingampalli- Vijayawada employees express that starts at 4:40 am and return to the city the same evening in the same train but even that seems to be in the endless waiting list," added another techie.