Bus ticket bookings soar for long festive period
According to redBus, an online bus ticketing platform, private operators are trying to meet the 31% rise in ticket booking as compared to last year by facilitating 4,571 active services. MSRTC has also reported rush at booking centres across the state
Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and private bus operators have reported rise in seat reservation for the extended Independence Day-Raksha Bandhan (August 15-19) period.
According to redBus, an online bus ticketing platform, private operators are trying to meet the 31% rise in ticket booking as compared to last year by facilitating 4,571 active services. MSRTC has also reported rush at booking centres across the state.
“As it is a long holiday, our family have booked tickets for Saturday to visit my sister’s place at Kolhapur for Raksha Bandhan. We will be celebrating the festival for three days,” said Sudesh Shetty an IT professional.
Punekars are preferably planning trips to Matheran, Lonavla, Mahabaleshwar and even offbeat destination spots for monsoon like Bhandardara in Nashik.
“We have booked a resort at Bhandardara for three nights starting from August 15,” said resident Sagar Abnawe.
At the MTDC resorts across the state, there has been increase in bookings, said officials.
“We are getting good public response for the August 15-August 19 period with some centres having reached 70 per cent booking,” said Deepak Harne, regional manager, MTDC.
Pramod Nehul, controller, MSRTC Pune division, said, “We have started getting advance bookings for Kolhapur, Satara, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and other long routes as people generally visit hometown for festivals. We have arranged additional buses to accommodate the heavy rush.”