Across the world, hop-on hop-off buses provide one of the best options to explore cities. By November 2018, Ahmedabad too, will get a hop-on hop-off bus service for heritage sightseeing tours. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) plans to put ten such buses into service.
Hop-on hop-off buses travel via fixed routes across a city at regular intervals. They provide people the option to get on at one and get off at another connection.
"At present, there are city buses but in addition to that, with participation of the private sector, we are coming up with a hop-on hop-off bus service for heritage sightseeing. We have received overwhelming response from tourists ever since the city was included by the UNESCO on the World Heritage City list," said Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar, AMC. He added: "We've witnessed a rising trend in footfall, and such services will help tourists visit all heritage sites with trained guides. This facility will provide hassle-free and seamless transition between places to the visitors."
A private entity, Akshar Travels, which currently manages heritage walks in the city on behalf of the civic body, is coming up with the bus service too. The company's managing director, Manish Sharma, said that the buses will be user friendly, with several facilities to smoothen and improve tourists' experience when exploring the city's rich heritage. "The buses will ply from November. The red-coloured buses will have heritage-themed graffiti on them. They will be user friendly – each commuter will be given a brochure which will have details about the heritage places they are going to visit. Audio-video information will be departed and there will be LED screens too," said Sharma.
He further said that there would be trained guides on the air-conditioned buses and that apart from the listed heritage monuments and places, Adalaj ni Vav and Sardar Patel Museum will also be part of the itinerary. "The fare will be around Rs 500 and the frequency of the buses will be at an interval of ten to fifteen minutes. Start point of the trip will be Ashram and along with all the heritage sites, we will also cover some of the other attractions of city," added Singh. Leader of Opposition Dinesh Sharma welcomed the move but raised concerns about why only one group was being entrusted with the service.
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 "Hop-on Hop-off buses")
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