Hop-on, hop-off buses are now introduced in a new avatar. Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has partnered with Prive Tourism Pvt Ltd to restart the service covering various tourist locations in North Goa.
“The service will be kickstarted with the Carnival parade on February 18 in Panaji and is expected to bring much-needed respite to tourists,” Bimal Singha Keisam, a host for Prive Tourism Pvt Ltd, told TOI.
The public transport in Goa is nothing to talk about, he said, adding that after 7pm, hardly any buses are available in the coastal belt while the taxi fare remains exorbitant.
“To start with, we will have five buses — two double-deckers and three single-deckers. Of the three, one will have sliding facilities. All five buses are air conditioned and ready to be commissioned,” Keisam said.
The service will be available from 9am to 11pm. Initially, a bus will be available every 40 to 45 minutes, and later the service provider plans to maintain a 15-minute frequency.
“They will be available every 15 minutes from selected locations once we increase our fleet,” Keisam said.
The areas covered will be Old Goa, Vagator, Panaji, Dona Paula, Porvorim, Candolim, Fort Aguada, Baga, Calangute, and Anjuna.
The bus fare, he said, has not yet been finalised as it needs to be approved by the GTDC. However, charges will be reasonable, with the option to buy a ticket with a validity of 24 or 48 hours.
“If the ticket has a validity of 24 hours, the commuter will be able to hop-on and hop-off a number of times from the locations that we will cover,” Keisam said.
To operate the service, he said, Prive Tourism Pvt Ltd has tied up City Sighting, an operator headquartered in Spain having operations in 117 countries.
“Buses will have audio guides and the vehicles will be tracked with a GPS. We have also developed an app, which the commuters will have to download to avail themselves of information about the routes.”
At important stops, there will be commentary in different languages — English, Hindi and Russian. More languages will be added later.
Source: Times Of India ( https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/hop-on-hop-off-buses-to-restart-with-carnival-parade/articleshow/97289893.cms )
