Chennai, Jan 19 The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has called upon the Tamil Nadu government to fix minimum basic fares for private Omni bus operators after they charged exorbitant rates from passengers during the recent Pongal festival.
PMK president and former Union Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, highlighted the issue of private omni buses collecting fares several times higher than usual.
He urged the government to regulate fares based on judgments issued by the Madras High Court.
“The government has not taken any concrete steps to control the exorbitant fares charged by private omni bus operators during peak travel seasons like Pongal,” said Anbumani.
He pointed out that online ticketing platforms were showing fares of Rs 5,000 for a trip from Coimbatore to Chennai and Rs 4,500 from Tirunelveli to Chennai.
“These fares were six to eight times higher than those charged by government buses and four to six times higher than regular private bus fares. The government has a responsibility to regulate fares, but it has failed in this regard. Passengers could not reach the helpline numbers set up to report such complaints, and even when complaints were lodged, the penalties imposed - Rs 1,750 per bus - were negligible and failed to deter overcharging,” he added.
Anbumani also accused the government of turning a blind eye to such exploitation and demanded stricter penalties in addition to fixing maximum permissible fares for omnibuses.
Complaints of overcharging persist during the Pongal rush, passengers across Tamil Nadu faced steep ticket prices as omnibus operators exploited the high demand.
Many passengers reported that helplines set up by the government to address overcharging were unresponsive. Passengers travelling to Chennai cited specific instances of exorbitant pricing. Nagercoil to Chennai: Rs 3,899 (regular fare: Rs 1,500–2,500), Madurai to Chennai: Rs 3,950 (regular fare: Rs 1,500–2,500), Coimbatore to Chennai: Rs 5,000 (regular fare: Rs 2,870 for premium AC sleeper buses) For a Madurai-to-Chennai journey, the Omni Bus Owners’ association had fixed a maximum fare of Rs 2,550 for a Volvo AC sleeper.
However, passengers were charged as much as Rs 3,899. Jeevanandam, a passenger from Coimbatore, stated that he chose to travel by a non-AC ultra-deluxe SETC bus to Chennai after being unable to secure a Tatkal train ticket and finding omni bus fares unreasonably high. Festival-time overcharging has become a recurring problem in Tamil Nadu.
While government buses provide an alternative, their availability often falls short of meeting demand. Anbumani has urged the state government to take stringent action against Omni bus operators to protect passengers from exploitation.
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