Air & bus fares soar, people scout for alternatives
Times of India | 18 June 2024
Kolkata: Air fares skyrocketed to nearly three times the regular fare on Monday morning following news of the train accident near New Jalpaiguri that disrupted train movements between NJP and Kolkata. However, Tuesday’s fares self-corrected in the afternoon and fares for Wednesday went down to near normal after the train line was restored via a diverted route through Bagdogra-Aluabari.
Bus fares too saw a steep northward movement following the accident with tickets being booked at nearly twice the usual fare. With trains resuming operations, the bus fares are also expected to reduce from Tuesday.
Passengers booked on trains departing from Jalpaiguri on Monday scurried to book flights following the train accident earlier in the day. This led to rapid fill-up up seats and drove prices to stratospheric levels. While the usual fare on the sector was around Rs 5,000 on the sector, all empty seats on departing flights were gone within an hour of the tragedy at prices ranging from two-three times the fare. By noon, even one-stop flights at Rs 15,000-20,000 a seat had been booked.
Fares on Tuesday’s flights hovered between Rs 8,090 and Rs 15,672 before reducing sharply on Wednesday to Rs 4,920-7,987.
On the Kolkata-Bagdogra sector, Tuesday’s fare was Rs 5,017-6,191 and Rs 5,017-8,492 on Wednesday.
AC bus fares from north Bengal are going northward too. A seat on premier AC services on Red Bus app shows fares ranging between Rs 3,000-5,000. The normal non-AC Rs 1,260 fare had gone up to Rs 2,600 for Monday night.
The SBSTC service was the only hope, selling AC tickets at Rs 1,210. While the Monday seats were sold out, precious few were left for Tuesday. The NBSTC has announced plying of 10 additional services to Kolkata for the next two days starting Monday evening.
Passengers wondered why prices would go northward even during a tragedy. “The airfare prices are even higher than travelling to Delhi and Mumbai. I do hope that the regulatory bodies are keeping a watch,” said Arkadeep Ganguly, a Ballygunge resident returning from Darjeeling. He and his wife have a Vande Bharat ticket but were worried about reaching Kolkata on Monday. “I need to be in Kolkata early Tuesday morning,” he said, adding this is the reason he is searching for a plane ticket.