Travel costs surge, Keralites struggle to reach home

Kochi: It's the same old story every festive season. Keralites living in different parts of the country, especially in metro cities of neighbouring states, are again forced to spend heavily to travel home for Onam festivities. With bus, train and airfares shooting up amid the festive rush, last minute measures announced by the authorities have done little to meet the demand or bring relief to passengers.Train tickets for the first week of Sept were sold out over a month ago, within hours of opening on the IRCTC portal. "The travel demand to Kerala via air and road surged significantly. Railways announced a special train from Bengaluru to Mangaluru via Malabar but the demand remains extremely high," said Jaijo Jose of Kerala Samajam, Bengaluru. He pointed out that last-minute announcements of special trains can hardly ease the pressure.The special train announced on Friday, from Bengaluru to Mangaluru, will leave at 2pm on Sunday. The ticket rate for interstate private buses has more than doubled for the last week of Aug and first week of Sept. "For Bengaluru-Kochi sector, the fare for an AC sleeper bus is now around Rs 3,000, even though the number of private buses on this route has been increased," said V T Thomas, an active worker of Kerala Samajam in Bengaluru and a travel agency operator.In view of Onam, Kerala RTC announced special services from Bengaluru and Chennai to various destinations in the state. However, passengers said the services were insufficient to control the steep hike by private operators. "Travel costs doubled for both air and bus services. The additional trains are not enough either. I'm still unsure about my travel plans," said Naveen Dev, a Keralite automobile entrepreneur in Bengaluru.Ajith A, assistant transport officer of Kerala RTC, admitted that demand far outstripped supply. "Tickets for the existing services are already booked out for next week. We will announce the schedule of special services by Sunday, mainly focusing on the Bengaluru-Kochi route," he said.Karnataka RTC also announced 90 additional services to Kerala from Sept 2 to 4. The special services will operate from Bengaluru's Mysuru Road and Shantinagar bus stations to Kannur, Kozhikode, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram. Return services from various locations in Kerala to Bengaluru will run on Sept 7.Airfares too skyrocketed for the festive period. A Delhi-Kochi ticket now costs between Rs 9,000 and Rs 14,000. Bengaluru-Kochi fares surged from Rs 3,000 to nearly Rs 10,000, while Chennai-Kochi tickets are hovering around Rs 7,000. Mumbai-Kochi flights during this period are priced between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000.Info BoxTicket Prices Due To RushFlightBangalore-Kochi — 9,000-15,000 Bangalore-TVM — 15,000-18,000 Chennai-Kochi — 7,000-12,000 Chennai-TVM — 9,000-15,000Private BusBangalore-Kochi — 3,000-4,000 Bangalore-TVM — 4,000-4,500Chennai-Kochi — 3,000-4,000 Chennai-TVM — 3,000-4,000