As small and large private bus operators and Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) get ready to resume operations in adherence to the new Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines released on Saturday, passengers must brace themselves for tickets that are 50-70 per cent higher than pre-Covid fares.

The mandate to ferry passengers at only 50 per cent capacity by some States, the cost of Covid-19 compliance for bus operators as well as, limited availability of buses that comply with stringent Covid safety and hygiene standards, are the major reasons for much higher fares when bus services resume in the next couple of days.

Pent-up demand

Online bus ticketing platforms and bus operators expect to cater to an immediate 50-70 per cent surge in pent-up demand created by restrictions on travel during the lockdown. However, this demand surge is expected to stabilise after 14-21 days and return to pre-Covid volumes only 6-9 months down the line, as people restrict their travel to avoid getting infected by the virus, say industry experts.

Demand for bus travel both inter-State and intra-State has been building up steadily since the nationwide lockdown began. In a survey conducted by bus ticketing platform redBus, 59 per cent of travellers indicated that they are planning an outstation travel within one month of travel restrictions being lifted. However, the opening of RTCs and private bus operators of each State will likely occur at varying times depending on their control over the Covid pandemic.

“The latest orders from MHA, as per ‘Unlock 1.0’ guidelines, make it clear that there shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons. While this is a welcome move, we are hoping that the States are also supportive, as this would go a long way in providing safe and affordable means of transport to millions of travellers. On redBus alone, we have about half a million passengers who have pre-registered and waiting for bus travel to resume,” Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus, told BusinessLine .

Surge prices

The likely surge in bus ticket prices by 50-70 per cent would depend on social distancing norms to be followed. For instance, in Karnataka, Assam and AP, buses can accept only 50 per cent capacity. Correspondingly, ticket prices will rise to make the trip viable for the bus operator, said Sangam.

RedBus has launched Safety+, a self-certification initiative for bus operators who follow the highest standards of excellence in safety and sanitisation as laid down by redBus. Passengers booking on the platform can check which buses are listed under Safety+ by looking for a Safety+ tag next to the bus listing.

Yolo Bus, an intercity mobility platform, which is strong both in the North and the South, launched its bus services in Assam last week with six buses, following contactless booking of tickets and contactless boarding with every alternate seat kept free, as per State guidelines. The bus fleets partnering with Yolo provide premium services such as bus captains, high-speed Wi-Fi, washrooms, food and beverages and device charging points.

“Every passenger will be checked with infra-red temperature measuring guns before boarding. Customers can know the temperature of the bus crew members before booking the bus and also book essential PPE kits on the Yolo Bus app and get it before boarding the bus. Entry to any suspected passenger is prohibited. We have introduced a sanitisation tunnel in Guwahati for each passenger before boarding, in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The captain, along with the bus driver and staff, will wear essential PPE to do away with the risk of contamination. All buses will be completely sanitised before and after every trip; all trips are non-stop and no food will be served, only water bottles will be given to passengers,” said Shailesh Gupta, founder CEO, Yolo Bus.

Some of the main sectors that redBus has seen demand in, are in the following corridors: between Hyderabad in Telangana and cities in AP — Vijayawada, Vizag, Guntur, etc; between the large metros of the South — Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad; within Tamil Nadu; between Chennai and cities in Tamil Nadu — Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli, etc; and between Delhi and cities in UP and Bihar.

Losses during lockdown

“The capacity for total number of online reserved tickets by buses, both RTC and private, is 360 million per annum which is around one million per day. About 75 million potential tickets were lost due to the Covid lockdown. If the average ticket value is ₹700, that’s an overall loss of ₹5,250 crores,” said Sangam .

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