With less than 36 hours before the two Telugu states go to polls, bus and railway stations in the twin cities began to witness heavy rush of voters travelling to their home-towns to cast vote.
Anticipating heavy rush, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation and the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation have braced themselves.
According to TSRTC officials, heavy passenger traffic is predicted from 8 am on Wednesday.
“The massive rush will be within the State, though around 300 buses will be pressed into service for passengers going to Andhra Pradesh. There are huge bookings by passengers travelling to both states,” said an official of the TSRTC.
Private bus operators too began to witness a large number of bookings. Ticket prices soared with operators charging at least twice the regular fare. For instance, the ticket to Kakinada was around ₹ 2,500 for AC Sleeper, as against ₹1,400 in normal times. In some cases, ticket prices soared up to four times.
Voters who work in Hyderabad but hail from other places said political parties had made travel arrangements for entire families. “I have 30 relatives who are in Hyderabad. A political party has made bus arrangements for all of us to travel to Kakinada,” said Srinivas, who works as a watchman in Bowenpally.
Railway stations too witnessed a massive rush of passengers. The South Central Railway announced that it would augment its strength.
For instance, the Vijayawada-Lingampalli Intercity Superfast Express would be augmented with two chair cars till April 14 and the Kacheguda-Repalle Delta Express with one AC III Tier coach till April 30.