Diwali rush: GSRTC buses sold out, over 1.74 lakh advance tickets booked

With just a week left for the Diwali festival, most of the state transport buses running from Ahmedabad—especially towards Saurashtra—are fully booked and the waiting list continues to grow.

On Saturday, of the 60 buses running between Ahmedabad and Junagadh, tickets were no longer available in 53 buses. 

A similar situation prevails on the Ahmedabad–Rajkot route, where passengers in large numbers are booking tickets, making them unavailable. Heavy bookings are also seen on routes from Ahmedabad to Dwarka, Jamnagar, and Porbandar.

Keeping the huge rush of passengers, it is likely that in the coming days the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) will announce extra buses. 

With GSRTC buses running full, people are now reluctantly opting for private buses. Sensing the demand, private operators have sharply increased fares. For example, the maximum fare for a private bus from Ahmedabad to Rajkot has shot up to ₹2,100.

Private bus fares shoot up from Ahmedabad

Rajkot – ₹2,150

Junagadh – ₹1,700

Dwarka – ₹2,000

Somnath – ₹1,900

Bhuj – ₹2,000

According to reports, on October 7, as many as 68,051 tickets were booked in a single day, giving the GSRTC an advance income of ₹1.93 crore. Out of these, 13,856 tickets were booked at counters, 5,810 via e-booking, and 43,711 through mobile bookings.

The highest demand has been observed in major divisions like Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Vadodara, and Jamnagar, since people are preparing to return to their hometowns.

GSRTC officials have stated that this year, advance bookings have seen a significant increase. To meet the heavy demand, more than 100 special buses will be deployed on high-demand routes such as Ahmedabad–Rajkot, Ahmedabad–Junagadh, Ahmedabad–Ambaji, Ahmedabad–Dwarka, Surat–Valsad, and Ahmedabad–Udaipur.