After free ride scheme for woman and girls in DTC buses and metro, the Delhi Government is now planning to reduce the fare of ‘Hop-on-Hop-off’ (HO-HO) tourist buses from Rs 500 to Rs 100.
The ‘HO-HO’ buses are run by the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) exclusively for the tourist coming from the other parts of the country and abroad. Also to make the national Capital more attractive and to provide a better facility and connectivity covering all the monuments and archaeological sites, the Government has decided to engage 25 more Air-Conditioned (AC) luxury HO-HO bus for the tourists.
With this, the DTTDC will also identify three special routes where the HO-HO buses will be plying, covering almost 50 monuments and other tourist places situated in the city.
Also, for the first time the buses will have tour guides to assist the tour and travelers. “Separate bus stops will be constructed for the HO-HO buses with a frequency of 20 minutes for each bus. The stop will also be used for other public transport buses,” said a Government official.
The tickets will be valid for one day and after purchasing a one-time ticket, a person can visit all the tourist places situated in Delhi. Also, he or she can de-board from one Ho-Ho bus to another anywhere, without being charged, the official added.
It may be recalled that HO-HO buses were introduced in the city in 2010 during the Common Wealth Games by then Sheila Dikshit Government. In that year about 15 buses were procured but currently the number has come down to six buses as nine buses were condemned after having completed one lakh kilometres. “With reduction in the number buses, the volume of passengers also reduced considerably. As per the seating capacity, the bus accommodated 250 passengers at a time but currently it has reduced to 80-83.
Thus to attract more tourists and improve the facility, AAP Government is planning to increase the strength of the fleet as well as that would provide a better facility to the tourists coming to the city,” said a Government official.
The official further added that the main aim behind this tourist bus scheme was to provide better travelling facility, so that the tourist can travel in the city smoothly and happily but the scheme could not flourish as both the bus and passengers reduced in numbers.
Following this, in 2017 the Delhi Government had started online ticket booking facility for ‘HO-HO’ buses but even after that the scheme failed. Hence, the DTTDC has planned a ‘lucrative scheme’ to make it successful by reducing ticket price from Rs 500 to Rs 100 and have free tour guides to attract more tourist.
Moreover, with free tourist, the upcoming buses will have separate earphones for each tourist and the tourist guides will educate them about particular monument or site in Hindi and English as well before reaching to the desired destinations.
“The aim of the Government is not to make money with tourism, rather it wants to make the city more attractive and better for the people especially those coming into the city from outside,” said an official.
