Hyderabad: Passenger rush for the Rakhi festival overwhelmed Hyderabad’s main transport hubs, with the Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) packed since Friday. The surge began with Varalakshmi Vratam, continued through Rakhi Pournami, and was set to carry into Sunday’s holiday. Bus, metro and train services ran full for four consecutive days.
To meet demand, buses from LB Nagar, Aramghar, Uppal, Medchal, KPHB and Miyapur were routed to districts. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) supplemented its 3,500 regular services with 400 specials from Hyderabad. Officials estimated daily ridership rose by nearly one million over the normal 6 million. Special monitoring teams were deployed to manage operations.
Hyderabad Rakhi rush sees special buses, steep fares
Metro ridership also surged, with an estimated 5.4 lakh passengers on Saturday. Authorities said commuters crowded especially on Raidurg–Ameerpet–Nagole and LB Nagar–Miyapur corridors. Frequent showers pushed more people onto metro trains, with headways reduced to three to five minutes.
However, commuters complained about fare hikes. While regular RTC buses kept normal fares, special services were charged 50% higher, as permitted under a 2003 state government order. On Saturday, express buses were redeployed as specials; fares reached ₹360 from MGBS to Karimnagar, ₹310 from Uppal to Hanumakonda, and ₹310 from LB Nagar to Suryapet.
Private operators charged more aggressively. With RTC specials full, passengers turned to cabs and vans charging up to triple the usual fare. On the Uppal–Hanumakonda and Nalgonda routes, drivers demanded whatever the market would bear. Social media users posted that even online-booked RTC tickets for 150 km trips were billed over ₹600.
The festival weekend also clogged city exits. The Uppal–Hanumakonda stretch and the main Hayathnagar highway saw kilometre-long jams, worsened by holidaymakers in private cars. Passengers accused the RTC of exploiting the festive season, saying the government’s free-bus claims were hollow when high fares were charged elsewhere.
