nashik private bus operators are trying to make the most of diwali rush and have skyrocketed the ticket pricesthough the stateowned maharashtra state transport corporation msrtc increased its ordinary bus fare by 10 and semiluxury and luxury buses fare by 15 the private transporters have increased the fare between 25 and 100for instance travelling to nagpur by a private sleeper coach would cost rs 1200 but now the fare has been hiked by 25 to rs 1500 till october 21 this year in another case travelling to ahmedabad will burn a hole in the pocket as the ticket will cost around rs 1600 during the season as against rs 800 as regular fare of the busthe season is at its peak the rush is likely to increase on the night of lakshmi pujan when most of the people the last minute travellers will be rushing home this is our season too the rates have definitely gone up and we can see more number of travellers this year sahebrao avhad a tour operator and joint treasurer of travel agents association of nashik taan saidthere are ample number of buses from nashik to all directions depending upon the requirements of the passengers all buses are airconditioned sleeper class coaches there are no sitting coaches and all of them start their journey in the manner that they reach the destinations before 7am keshav tile another operator saidthe fare to pune from nashik is expected to rise from october 22 when the crowd will be returning to pune for jobs the rates of private buses to pune will increase after diwali as that is the time when there will be huge rush of commuters going back to work he added commuters however have no option but to buy the tickets at the hiked rates especially for destinations like ahmedabad latur solapur as the msrtc doesnt have buses on these routes there are very less government buses for these longdistance destinationsbesides they offer no comfort at all there was an ordinary bus to kolhapur and that too has been stopped by the msrtc since there is a monopoly of private bus operators the rates are significantly higher ramesh saindanshiv a commuter saidthe fares however have gone up only on selected routes there is no hike on bengaluru or indore routes as of sunday and there is a very small rise in ticket costs for goa and nagpur meanwhile the pune route has witnessed a 40 rise the number of operators starting longdistance buses have increased this year connecting more numbers of cities this is the reason rates have automatically been checked another operator said the private bus operators charge as per their will during off season the nashiksolapur fare of the msrtc ordinary bus is rs 600 while the private operators allow airconditioned sleeper coaches at the same rate but during vacation or festive season the fares go up by 40 percent since the buses are full i have got no