Heavy rush was seen at the Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) in Vijayawada on October 18 (Wednesday) as students began leaving for their native places for the Dasara festival.
Some travellers complained that they were having to wait for a long time to board the bus. Jagadeesh, 19, studying in Lakkireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering, came to the Vijayawada bus station at 9.30 a.m. to board the Macherla bus at 10.30 a.m. “But there was so much rush that I could not even go near the bus door. It has been nearly two hours now waiting for another bus,” he said, adding that he will now have to go to Guntur and wait for some time there as well to catch the Macherla-bound bus.
Another student, Nikshit, studying Intermediate first year at Narayana Junior College in Vijayawada, said he was waiting with five of his friends for the Ongole-bound bus for more than 30 minutes. There are 30 services to Ongole per day and no extra ones, said a bus driver.
Basheer Ahmed, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager, PNBS, who was monitoring the rush, said all the 392 bus services and 19 special ones were operational today. “None of the services has been cancelled. An additional 42 services have been kept in reserve to meet any surge of traffic and 30 special services have been planned for Rayalaseema,” he said, citing the rush to students camping on the premises for a long time.
