JOIN USTravel bookings see spike this weekend
Air, train and bus bookings have gone up for this weekend, when Karnataka goes to the polls.
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), railway and airport officials confirmed to Metrolife that May 12 and 13 are witnessing .
Elections and the holiday season have added to the rush.
South Western Railways officials say the waiting lists of trains heading for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and Andhra Pradesh are longer than lists for other destinations.
“No tickets are available this weekend on trains bound for Goa. They are all booked,” an official says, indicating that many from Bengaluru are holidaying on election day.
The rush for tickets has doubled in trains to places in Karnataka, suggesting that many are voting in their hometowns.
The number of passengers headed for Mysuru, Shivamogga, Hubballi, Dharwad, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi has increased dramatically.
“Such a spike in demand is unusual. Elections are the main reason,” the official says. No additional trains have been introduced for the public, but 12 additional trains are bringing army and CRPF personnel on election duty.
Bookings for air travel peak during April and May because of the summer holidays, an airport official says.
Taking a bus? Not easy
Of 8,896 KSRTC buses, 4000 are on election duty.
“The tickets on all other buses are booked. We have had people calling us for last minute bookings but we can’t help anybody,” an official told Metrolife.
Buses connecting popular destinations have been cancelled. “For example, where we have 10 buses to places like Mangaluru, we are running just five,” he says. Destinations with just one bus are untouched.
Every day, we have 2,500 tickets displayed online, but KSRTC has brought it down by 300 because of the elections.
Buses dedicated to ferrying school children from the villages to the cities have also been assigned to election work.