Why We All Go for Private Buses
Let’s admit it, almost everyone in India has hopped onto a private bus at some point. You know the scene: midnight, earphones in, phone glowing, hoping the driver knows what he’s doing while you try to get some sleep. Seriously, these buses are everywhere! It’s so easy to find one last minute, book online without any struggle, and the price is usually way less than a train or a flight.
But after that Kurnool bus fire last week, where 19 people lost their lives, I can’t stop thinking about how risky these rides actually are. It’s not just a one-off thing. That tragedy screamed at us that something’s really wrong. Still, we brush it away because “everyone travels like that”, and that’s exactly the problem.
Why Private Buses Became Everyone’s First Choice
Honestly, government buses now feel like unicorns. They’re ancient, always packed, and seem to dodge half the routes people actually need. Between 2022 and now, the number of state buses dropped fast, from just over a lakh to barely 97,000.
Private operators jumped right in, filling the gap. Suddenly, there’s a bus to every small town you’ve ever heard of. The comfort is tempting: sleeper seats, late-night departures, and instant booking apps. The whole thing feels modern, so obviously everyone switched. But underneath all that ease, there’s a dark side that most folks don’t even realise.
The Ugly Truth About Safety
Let’s not sugarcoat it: so many of these buses are kind of terrifying when you think about it.
Since 2013, over 130 people have died in private bus fires. That’s not just a number; those are actual lives, gone just like that. Buses are packed with things that burn super quickly: thin plastic panels, synthetic curtains, cheap mattresses.
Fire extinguishers? If you even spot one, it’s probably expired or stuck behind luggage. Emergency exits? Either locked or being used as storage by the staff. In a real accident, people get trapped. Drivers are always in a rush, working insane shifts with barely any sleep. To make things “better,” operators illegally add chargers, flashy lights, and speakers, all of which overload the wiring and make the bus a disaster waiting for a spark.
The Kurnool Tragedy
That morning was like any other for the people on the sleeper bus, except it ended in pure horror.
The bus was cruising from Hyderabad to Bengaluru when it hit a bike near Kurnool. The biker, apparently drunk, got stuck under the bus, and the fuel tank blew up. In seconds, everything was on fire.
Out of 44 people, 19 lost their lives. Some were stuck because the doors wouldn’t open, and some couldn’t get through sealed shut windows. The bus driver tried to use a fire extinguisher, but it was useless. Another driver broke windows to help people, but it was chaos.
And when officials looked into things? Illegal wiring everywhere, no safety kit. The bus shouldn’t have been running, but there it was, just like so many others, even today.
How Buses Manage to Dodge the Rules
Here’s the shady stuff nobody explains: most of these buses aren’t even registered in the state where they actually run.
Take the Kurnool bus. It was registered in Daman and Diu, and later Odisha, just so the owner could skip high road taxes and tough safety checks in Andhra Pradesh. Apparently, almost 90% of private buses in Andhra operate on out-of-state permits, totally bypassing real inspections.
Fitness certificates are often bought with a bribe, and speed limiters (the “speed governors”) are just missing. Passengers think everything’s fine, but the truth is these buses run like they’re invisible to the law.
What the Government Is Actually Doing
After the Kurnool fire, officers finally started actually checking buses. Hundreds turned out to be breaking the rules. Some were seized; fines of around ₹7 lakh were imposed on violators. Other states like Telangana started doing their own crackdowns too. But let’s keep it real, these moves always come after disaster strikes, not before. Operators with small fleets cut every possible corner to keep costs low. Safety gear, proper maintenance, driver training, all of it is seen as “not important enough” compared to savings. Unless rules get way stricter and are actually forced into action, not much will really change.
The Passenger Experience, Not So Peaceful
Even when nothing goes wrong, private bus travel can be a huge pain. Buses are overcrowded to the brim, drivers are rude or totally reckless, interiors are dirty, AC broken, and absolutely zero sign of safety gear. So what do we do? We sit there, headphones in, scrolling Instagram, silently hoping our bus isn’t one of the unlucky ones. But travel shouldn’t be about luck. Safety should be a guarantee. Most of us don’t know what to check: fire exits, extinguishers, registration details. We just trust blindly, maybe because nobody ever told us it was our responsibility, too.
Is There Any Hope for the Future?
The government keeps talking about electric buses and fancy upgrades. GPS tracking, safety systems, live route monitoring, sounds good, right? But let’s be real: tech helps, but it's no magic fix. The real change happens only when safety becomes basic, not optional. Drivers need proper training and rest. Buses need real inspections, and drills should happen for everyone involved. Passengers should get curious and speak up the moment something looks off. Awareness matters because silence keeps the system broken.
Private buses connect cities, families, friends, jobs, and dreams. They’re woven deep into our daily lives now, whether we like it or not. But convenience shouldn’t come with fear. What happened in Kurnool can’t happen again.
Before getting on your next bus, just stop and check for a working fire extinguisher, find out where the emergency exits are, and look at the registration plate. Ask questions. Say something if it feels wrong. Your life is way more valuable than the ticket price. Seriously, no trip or deadline is ever worth risking everything for. It’s time we all stop pretending danger is “normal” just because everyone ignores it. We deserve safer travel.
References