With just a week to go for Diwali, most GSRTC buses from Ahmedabad—especially towards Saurashtra—are fully booked, and waiting lists continue to grow.
On Saturday, 53 out of 60 buses between Ahmedabad and Junagadh were fully booked. The Ahmedabad–Rajkot route is seeing a similar rush, with heavy bookings also on buses to Dwarka, Jamnagar, and Porbandar.
To meet the demand, GSRTC plans to deploy over 100 extra buses on high-demand routes including Ahmedabad–Rajkot, Ahmedabad–Junagadh, Ahmedabad–Ambaji, Ahmedabad–Dwarka, Surat–Valsad, and Ahmedabad–Udaipur.
With GSRTC buses full, passengers are turning to private buses, causing fares to rise sharply:
- Ahmedabad–Rajkot: 2,150
- Ahmedabad–Junagadh: 1,700
- Ahmedabad–Dwarka: 2,000
- Ahmedabad–Somnath: 1,900
- Ahmedabad–Bhuj: 2,000
On October 7 alone, GSRTC booked 68,051 tickets, earning an advance income of 1.93 crore, with the majority booked via mobile apps.
Major divisions like Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Vadodara, and Jamnagar are seeing the highest demand as people prepare to return to their hometowns for Diwali.