Bengaluru: A bus journey to Kalasipalyam turned into a humiliating ordeal for a resident of Vinayaka Nagar after he was made to get off midway and left to haul his luggage across the city on foot. It subsequently led to an eight-month-long consumer complaint against the bus operator, which was ultimately decided in the complainant’s favour.The saga began on Oct 27, 2025, when Mahamad Rafeek Angadi, 43, a resident of Vimanapura Post, HAL, booked a bus ticket with Royal Travels for his journey from Sindagi, Vijayapura district, to Kalasipalyam, Bengaluru. The ticket clearly mentioned Kalasipalyam as the scheduled destination. He paid Rs 1,234 in full for the journey.Upon reaching the city, the driver and conductor wrongfully stopped the bus at Anand Rao Circle. When Angadi questioned this deviation, both the driver and conductor allegedly misbehaved with him in front of other passengers. Compounding his troubles, Angadi was carrying three heavy bags at the time, and owing to the wrongful stoppage, he was forced to carry his luggage on his own all the way from Anand Rao Circle to Kalasipalyam, causing him considerable physical hardship, stress, and delay.In a bid to seek help or register his grievance, he tried calling the two helpline numbers printed on his ticket over 30 times the following morning, but received no response. As a result of the entire ordeal, Angadi also missed an important professional meeting, leading to financial loss.Angadi got a legal notice issued to Royal Travels on Oct 28, but the operator did not respond or take any steps to resolve the matter. Left with no option, he filed a consumer complaint with Bengaluru Urban II additional district consumer disputes redressal commission on Nov 21, seeking Rs 50,000 as compensation for mental agony, physical hardship, and financial loss, a written apology within seven days, along with costs of litigation.Despite being served notice by the commission, Royal Travels neither appeared before it nor contested the complaint at any stage of the proceedings.After going through all the documents, the commission, presided over by president Anuradha V and member Savitha Airani, observed that despite having received the full ticket price, the operator’s staff had not dropped Angadi at the promised destination and had also given no intimation. The commission further observed that the operator had not even bothered to reply to the legal notice. It held that this failure to render proper service, coupled with the discourteous conduct of its staff, amounted to deficiency of service and unfair trade practice.On June 29, the commission directed Royal Travels to pay Rs 2,000 as compensation and Rs 1,000 towards costs of litigation.
