20-day Chandigarh airport closure: Luxury buses to feel the heat, taxis to encash opportunity

Starting this Saturday, the 20-day closure of Chandigarh International Airport due to runway expansion work is set to put pressure on the public transportation even as the window comes as an opportunity for private taxi operators to do brisk business.

Over one lakh flyers, both inbound and outbound, are set to be affected during the closure from May 12 to May 31 and will rely on alternative means to travel in and out of the city.

At present, Chandigarh International Airport is connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Leh, Srinagar, Jaipur, Pune and Kullu. The international circuit includes Dubai, Sharjah and Bangkok.

As seen during the last closure, majority of local air passengers flew from Delhi airport since it has the capacity to handle additional passenger load on different domestic and international destinations.

But as far as public transportation is concerned, options are limited in public transportation for direct connectivity between Chandigarh and Delhi international airport.

There are 30 volvos currently plying between Chandigarh and Delhi. Of them, only 15 of Haryana roads give people direct access to airport and rest of them drop people till Delhi’s ISBT.

Capacity of each Volvo is not more than 50 passengers for one side journey. During the last closure in February, local residents had a tough time getting seats in Volvos.

A senior official of Haryana roadways posted in Chandigarh depot said although number of passengers will go up in wake of airport closure, they don’t have additional buses to depute between Chandigarh and Delhi airport. “Few of our buses are under repair. We will make sure that we press them for service during the closure,” he said.

Vineet Sharma, who runs a local travel company, said the government must ensure that passengers are not fleeced by private operators for unnecessary surge in prices, both the government and private transportation.

“Nearly half of the traffic from Chandigarh airport comes from Punjab areas too. Punjab government should also step up to provide alternate means of transportation, he said

‘15%-20% surge in taxi rates expected’

An owner of Chandigarh based private taxi firm, Ashish Singla, said that airport is being closed in peak tourist season when taxi service is already in huge demand. “I foresee even huge demand of taxi service between Chandigarh and Delhi or other destination as airport is heading for closure. It will definitely surge prices by approximately 15% to 20% and even much more, depending upon the demand and supply,” he added

According to him, there are chances that the private operators will have to outsource vehicles from Punjab to meet the demand.

The current pick and drop to Delhi Airport from Chandigarh varies from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,700, depending upon the nature of the vehicle.A spike in 15% to 20% taxi fares means that the rate will shoot up between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500.