The city’s first hop-on, hop-off (hoho) bus service is turning out to be a hit. On the second day of commercial operations, the Delhi Tourism-run service got an encouraging response as scores of people hopped on to the bus to take ride of the city.
For Ashley and Deren who have come from the US, it’s the convenience of this bus service that seems to impress them.
“The experience has been fantastic – it’s very convenient and it covers all the places that we had decided to travel – also it helps us not get lost,” they said.
At Rs 300 rupees and timed perfectly with the Commonwealth Games, the hoho bus service is making a lot of tourists smile.
However, while the frequency of the bus was good, the guides have so far not put up an impressive show. In one of the hoho buses, the guide was confused about the historical facts of various tourist sites. In another hoho bus, the woman guide seemed least interested in sharing facts with passengers about the passing sites.
Some tourists complained that the guides could not answer all their queries and instead they had to resort to tourist books to get the facts right.
One entire hoho journey takes four-and-a-half hours and covers up to 19 popular destinations in Delhi — starting from Coffee Home on Baba Kharak Singh Marg to Red Fort, India Gate, Humayun’s Tomb, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Saket mall, Hauz Khas Village, Safdarjung Tomb, Jantar Mantar and culminating at Janpath.
Passengers can hop on to the bus from any of the designated hoho bus stops and can purchase tickets on the bus. Each ticket has one day validity and passengers can go off to any sites, spend time there and then board another hoho bus. Delhi Tourism officials said the buses run at a frequency of half an hour.
Sightseeing tours are popular in cities all over the world. Organized tours are expensive, rigid and need definite planning in advance. The Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus service provides sightseeing options to tourists who are willing to explore Delhi with a more flexible schedule. These tours are conducted in specially designed buses which move continuously along a route, allowing tourists to board or alight at any of the pick up/drop off points. The route of these buses covers monuments, museums, galleries, gardens, shopping malls, hotels and bazaars. All in all, the service is designed to provide a complete experience of the city to a tourist. The following are the salient features of the Hop On/Hop Off bus service-
- Air-conditioned environment friendly luxury buses
- Frequency- every 30 minutes
- Flexibility – tourists can hop on and hop off at any pick up/drop off point
- Entertaining and knowledgeable tour guides
- Route covers all major tourist destinations in Delhi
- Audio guides
- Online booking Facility
- Onboard ticketing facility
- Covers more than 18 tourist locations
- Monument entry tickets are available to save time
