Hyderabad: Returning to the city after the Dasara break has become an expensive affair this year, with regular buses and trains to Hyderabad running full, forcing passengers to opt for special services with higher fares.With lakhs of students and employees heading back from their hometowns over the weekend to resume work and classes on Monday, both the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) and the South Central Railway (SCR) have been operating at maximum capacity. Even the special buses and trains, arranged to cater to the festive rush, were fully booked.The demand was particularly high in districts such as Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, and Adilabad, where tickets for most buses on Sunday and Monday were sold out well in advance. Many passengers were left waiting for new slots to open for regular and special bus services.Passengers also complained about the increased fares. “In super luxury buses between Karimnagar and Hyderabad, the regular ticket price of 390 shot up to 520 for special services — an increase of 130 per ticket. We are four members travelling together, and now we have to spend over 500 extra as there are no tickets available in regular buses on the online portal for Monday,” said Ravi Kiran, a passenger from Karimnagar.Officials said fares for these special services are 20-30% higher than the regular ones, citing increased operational expenses. “The revision applies only to special buses operated during the festival rush. Additional services are being mobilised from nearby depots to meet the demand. Since many buses return with low occupancy after dropping passengers, the fares have been adjusted to offset operational losses,” said a TGSRTC official.The situation isn’t any better for interstate travellers, with most trains to Hyderabad from Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Chennai, Bengaluru, and other cities showing long waiting lists or regret status for the weekend. Officials said tickets for several popular routes were sold out weeks in advance, reflecting the post-holiday travel peak.Air travel has also become expensive, with airfares soaring up to three times. For instance, a Nagpur-Hyderabad ticket on Sunday was priced at over 17,000, compared to the regular 5,000-7,000 range. Similar spikes were reported the Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Guwahati routes, leaving last-minute travellers with limited and costly options.
