RailEnquiry

BHUBANESWAR: The number of passengers travelling in long distance deluxe and AC deluxe buses from Bhubaneswar to other parts of the state has dwindled since the fare hike a week ago. The state government had allowed the fare hike after the technical committee recommended it following the increase in diesel prices. People are travelling by trains even for a minimum distance of 200 km.Around 2,300 long distance buses leave the Barmunda bus terminal every day for Puri, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Jeypore, Balangir, Bhawanipatna, Malkangiri and Berhampur. The luxury AC buses also go to Kolkata and Raipur. There are direct trains to all the state's towns and also to Kolkata and Raipur.The train fare is also less while the comfort is more, so people are finding the train journey convenient, said Debendra Sahu, general secretary of All Odisha Bus Owners' Association.He said though luxury buses have introduced sleeper space to provide comfort at par with sleeper class of trains, few passengers prefer it. He also said that many long distance night express buses ply in the state. "The number of such buses exceeds passenger volume. Out of 2,300 buses, 1,700 are AC deluxe, which go with less passengers every day," Sahu said.He said an AC deluxe bus has 42 seats and 10 sleepers. "If all the seats are booked, then there will be around one lakh passengers. But on an average, not more than 60,000 travel by these buses every day," said Sahu.

Sibraj Samal, who is from Sambalpur but works in Bhubaneswar, said he used to travel every week by bus to Sambalpur but after the fare increased to Rs 300, he prefers the train as he has to pay only Rs 187 for the sleeper class. "The bus fare of deluxe buses has gone up from 70 paise per km to 76 paise while AC deluxe bus fares increased by 8 paisa. While fare from Bhubaneswar to Sambalpur was Rs 270, it has now become Rs 300. In trains, if one travels in sleeper class, the fare is Rs 187," said Samal.

Similarly, there is considerable difference between the train and bus fares for journey from Bhubaneswar to other cities in the state. Railway spokesperson at Sambalpur Nihar Mishra said the introduction of intercity express trains has helped the passengers and these trains are very overcrowded.