The heavy passenger rush during Diwali festival has made the Rajasthan Roadways income increase by Rs 1 crore in just 5 days. The cash struggling roadways had operated 100 buses on an average on various routes between November 2 till November 6 and passengers had found these buses an efficient mode to travel home for the festival. As such, these additional buses in 5 days generated income of Rs1 crore, informed the officials at Sindhi Camp bus stand which is the central bus stand in Jaipur.
The average income of Sindhi Camp bus stand is about Rs 28 lakh-Rs 29 lakh and these 5 days have been a good festival time for roadways.
People will now be returning to Jaipur from their hometowns for going to offices from Monday and therefore, the rush will still be seen in the buses. This shot in the arm was necessary for roadways as it witnessed a long strike of employees which ended after the model code of conduct was imposed in the state on October 6.
After that, roadways employees started action of shooing away the private buses which are usually seen outside the Sindhi Camp bus stand. This helped the Rajasthan Roadways earn some extra revenue from the sale of tickets. The strike had already given loss of Rs 2 crore each day to roadways and now employees are trying hard to bring the revenue back on track.
Meanwhile, the rush is also being seen at railway stations with people returning, a large number of people are now coming back on Saturday while the ones who live near will return on Sunday and by Monday morning, the rush is expected in various long and short distance trains.
Railways had also made special arrangements to give some relaxation to passengers who had been trying to get confirmed tickets during festival days. NWR had increased coach in 11 major trains on a temporary basis running through NWR region so that the passengers can get a confirmed ticket.
For example, one third AC coach had been added in Jaipur-Pune-Jaipur Superfast Express. This increase had been made from October 30 till November 13 from Jaipur while from the Pune side, the extra coach will be made available from October 31.
