Here’s some bad news for those who plan to use Redbus to book bus tickets this festive season. A section of private omni bus operators in Tamil Nadu have said that they will not be accepting RedBus tickets for trips between January 12 and January 17, 2017, due to issues between the association and the bus-aggregator.
Speaking to The News Minute, A Anbalagan, Secretary, All Omni Bus Owners and Operators Association, said, “Omni buses in Tamil Nadu will not be accepting tickets issued by RedBus from January 12 to January 17, 2017. Passengers can avail tickets from particular bus websites or from other websites like Ticketgoose.com,” he said.
The omni bus associations have been warning RedBus for some time now of these consequence, Anbalagan said. “RedBus has been overcharging passengers by selling tickets for higher price than the amount fixed by the associations. We had warned them earlier, but they continue to charge more. Moreover, passengers complain about not getting proper addresses and locations for pick-up and drop. We have set up offices in all the places,” he said.
It is a temporary decision, he added. “There will be discussions with the RedBus, after which, we will come up with a final decision based on whether they are ready to co-operate,” he said.
However, there are reports that few other operators are not registering a protest and will continue to take RedBus bookings.
Ahead of Pongal, the Tamil Nadu government has opened 26 special reservation counters at Koyambedu to decongest the bus terminal. Moreover, 11270 special buses will be plying from Chennai to other districts for three days from January 11, 2017.
During Pongal, there is a high volume of travelers who take the road to their hometowns from Chennai. Every year, bus operators hike up the rates ahead of important festivals like Pongal and Deepavali.
Source: The News Minute