Tourism Minister Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar flagged off the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus services that will be operated on a public-private partnership between Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Prasanna Purple bus operators on an initial route that will run between Dona Paula and Old Goa.
PANAJI
With the introduction of the ‘first-in-the-country’ sightseeing buses, the Goa Tourism has claimed that the service will take Goa to be on par with several iconic cities of the world, including Singapore, Rome, London and a few other destinations.
To be popularly called the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) buses, the royal red buses will offer tourists sightseeing circuits in and around the capital city, Old Goa, Miramar and Dona Paula to begin with. The HOHO service through open top Double Decker and Hydeck vehicles are all set to offer tourists an opportunity to explore Goa with leisure, flexibility and comfort.
“Goa will be famous and the buses will be iconic that at the sight of them one will remember Goa. We are eager to go ahead despite all the hurdles we have had to overcome,” Azgaonkar said. The buses will run along the Dona Paula to Old Goa routes featuring as many as 19 places of interest along the way with an automated-GPS enabled system offering a lot of information that would even baffle locals.
“No sooner does the bus reach a certain location, the GPS will automatically trigger the playing of the information of that place or monument,” the operators explained.
GTDC and Prasanna Purple have come a long way since the idea was first conceptualised, only for them to realise that only one make of double decker buses was permitted to be registered in the country -- that of Mumbai’s BEST Ashok Leyland buses introduced in the 1940s.
To have these buses running, the GTDC as well as the operator had to pursue the issue with the central government to change the rules of registration which took more than a year to accomplish.
According to the PPP model, the private operator will have to initially invest the money as well as bear the business risk, while GTDC has an opportunity to reap in a percentage of the revenue.
As part of the deal, Prasanna Purple has bought two double decker open top buses while another two ‘hydeck’ buses will also be put into operation. Tickets will be sold online as well as for walk-in customers as well as through travel agents, with the bus frequency expected to be set at every 40
minutes.
However, several challenges remain, including that of safety. As part of the safety measures, those who sit on the top deck will have to compulsorily remain seated and have their seat belts on at all times. Despite the efforts of the Corporation of the City of Panaji and GTDC, several low hanging branches were yet to be cleared at the time of the first launch.
