For passengers planning to go home for Holi, the journey is proving to be quite challenging. General and sleeper coaches are overcrowded, with barely any space to stand. Airfares have also doubled.
Railways: The journey is proving to be quite challenging for passengers planning to travel home for Holi. Most long-distance trains have their sleeper and third AC coaches fully booked, with many showing a "no-room" status. Meanwhile, airfares have reached record highs. This has created difficulties for long-distance travellers. Private bus operators are capitalising on this situation by significantly increasing fares – by three to four thousand rupees. Seats on buses to Kanpur, Patna, Gorakhpur, and Lucknow are being booked for five to seven thousand rupees.
This arbitrary pricing is being observed in online bookings. Offline bookings offer some relief. People working in Rajasthan (राजस्थान) during the year return to their home states for Holi. This leads to a large influx of passengers travelling to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat during Holi. The high fares are particularly distressing for those travelling with family. Online ticket bookings from Jaipur to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and other cities have commenced.
Additionally, buses from Delhi to Jaipur are fully booked. Seats on the roadways' deluxe depot Volvo buses are also fully occupied. This is forcing passengers to resort to private operators.
A significant surge in airfares is also being witnessed. The Jaipur-Patna fare has reached ₹10,389 to ₹17,259. Similarly, Jaipur-Kanpur fares range from ₹13,125 to ₹14,290; Jaipur-Lucknow from ₹6,292 to ₹10,981; Jaipur-Bhopal from ₹8,194 to ₹10,059; and Jaipur-Udaipur fares have reached up to ₹10,000. This represents a 1.5 to 2 times increase compared to normal days. However, fares from Jaipur to several cities including Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, and Kolkata have not seen a substantial increase.
Trains from Jaipur to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh between 10 and 12 March are fully booked. Bookings for sleeper and third AC coaches on trains like Jodhpur-Howrah, Jodhpur-Varanasi, Pooja Express, Ajmer-Sealdah, Jaipur-Prayagraj, and Jaipur-Guwahati show waiting lists exceeding 100. Even the Tatkal ticket option offers only long waiting lists. Crowding is already being observed in general and sleeper coaches, with people struggling to board.