JOIN USAlmost two months after relaunching the “Bangalore Rounds- Hop On Hop Off” sightseeing bus service for tourists, the BMTC officials say that the service is picking up well.
The service clocked a collection of Rs 53,000 in a single day on July 20, perhaps indicating its raising popularity. This is the highest revenue since the launch of the service.
However, in spite of things looking up for the service, the BMTC has cut down on the number of trips and has reduced number of visiting places in the itinerary. The promotional discount of Rs 50 to Rs 100 which was valid till July 15, has been extended further. Accordingly, the tickets which were priced at Rs 250 for adults and Rs 150 for children would now cost Rs 150 and Rs 100 respectively.
According to the officials, the buses which were previously operating till 10.30 pm, now end the trip at 9 pm. Nagawara Lake/Lumbini Gardens is now off the itinerary.
Senior officials in the BMTC say that the trip timings were cut down since most of the tourist places in the City close by 6.30 pm. The two malls on the list can be visited within 9 pm, an official added.
Further the officials say that there were few takers for Nagawara Lake and that knocking it off the itinerary has saved 45 minutes of travel time.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Kumar Pushkar, Director (Information Technology), BMTC, said that the response till now was fine given that it was a non-tourist season.
“So far we have decided that there will be no increase or decrease in the number of buses for the service. We may consider adding a few more buses by October-November depending on further response,” he said.
According to officials on weekdays about 100-120 tourists make use of the service while the number goes up to 200-240 during weekends. Seven luxury Volvo buses with theme paintings have been deployed for the tourist service.
Each bus, with a seating capacity of 41 passengers does four trips a day. The BMTC had conducted training in soft skills for the crew of tourist buses.
Itinerary
The itinerary includes Tipu Sultan’s Palace, Bull Temple, Gavigangadhareshwara Temple, Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, Freedom Park, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Vidhana Soudha/ Karnataka High Court/ Cubbon Park, Visvesvaraya Museum/Venkatappa Art Gallery/Bal Bhavan/UB City, MG Road Metro Station, Garuda Mall, Ulsoor Gurudwara, Ulsoor Lake, Commercial Street, St Mary’s Basilica Church, Fun World/Snow City, Iskcon Temple, Orion Mall, Sankey Tank and Mantri Square.