Protests against RedBus: Section of pvt bus operators refuse to take bookings during Pongal

A section of operators say that they will not be taking RedBus bookings between January 12 to January 17.
Protests against RedBus: Section of pvt bus operators refuse to take bookings during Pongal
Protests against RedBus: Section of pvt bus operators refuse to take bookings during Pongal
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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. “There is nothing like that. The brokers have given a false information because they were wanting to put on highly priced charts on RedBus portal which was objected. We want to make it clear from the bus operators that there is no objection to accept the RedBus tickets,” said A Afzal, President, Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners Association.

In a statement to The News Minute, Danan Christadoss, Senior Director RedBus said, "As part of our constant endeavor to improve the quality and safety of bus travel, time-to-time we weed-out those bus operators from redBus who do not meet certain quality and service standards leading to passenger dissatisfaction and poor customer ratings for these operators. Some of the operators who have not been able to meet these standards and hence been discontinued from our system have been recently indulging in false propaganda about bus operators not honoring redBus tickets. We would like to re-assure our users and reaffirm that ALL bus operators would honor tickets booked through redBus through the Pongal period and beyond. redBus continues to strive to improve the ecosystem of Bus travel for both bus operators and passengers."

RedBus also added that they do not set the prices for tickets and only displays the ticket fare set by bus operators. "During festival season, there is a cap on maximum fares that is advised by the TN Omni Bus Operators Association in consultation with the Govt. of TN, which redBus strictly adheres to. In such cases, redBus does not display those bus operators whose fares are higher than the prescribed maximum," they stated. 

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.

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