In the southern states of India, Malayalees mostly work in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Apart from this, lakhs of Malayalees are working in Mumbai as well. They mainly rely on trains to come to Kerala. If one wants to travel, they have to book the tickets months in advance.

On special occasions like Onam, Christmas and Ramzan, ordinary passengers who cannot get train tickets depend on private and transport buses running inter-state services. The main attraction of these bus services is that you can get a seat at the last moment without a reservation planned in advance. Although the journey is much hectic compared to a train trip, there is no shortage of passengers in such bus services.

It is estimated that around 15 lakh Malayalees live in Bengaluru city alone. Most of them are working in the IT sector. They come home to Kerala every two to three months. The situation of Chennai is also no different. Keeping this in mind, KSRTC announced that it would run more inter-state services but never ran them. This is an area that can generate good profits if more services are offered during special occasions and festive seasons. There are many private luxury buses plying to such cities and they are making good profits as well. When the rush increases on special occasions, they will increase the ticket prices as they wish. No authority intervenes to prevent this.

We have reported that private buses have started extorting tickets seeing the Christmas and New Year rush. It is pointed out in the news that the ticket price has been hiked to more than double the regular rate on the Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode routes from the 20th of this month. The normal fare for a Bengaluru - Thiruvananthapuram AC sleeper is Rs.1600. This has been raised to Rs 3650-4000 in one go. AC semi-sleeper priced at Rs 1300 has been increased to Rs 3500. This apparent increase in fares by private buses is after seeing the almost full reservation in KSRTC and Karnataka government buses. KSRTC is running 45 services including special and Karnataka is running 67 services. However, it isn't easy to get tickets on these services on the last days of the week. Although the authorities say that each unit has been instructed to run separate services depending on the number of passengers and the number of reservations, this is not being implemented due to a shortage of buses.

The current 45 services in Kerala should be increased to at least 100. If that can be done, this theft in the name of rate hikes by private operators can be prevented to a large extent. Otherwise, the government should allow more private services by granting temporary permits during special occasions like Onam, Christmas and New Year. While granting such permission, the government should also set conditions regarding the maximum ticket charge that can be imposed. If the existing rules do not allow for this, the government itself has the power to change the rules for the same. The authorities should not forget that the rules are for the convenience and welfare of the people. Government should immediately intervene and stop the looting of private bus operators in the name of tickets.