Mumbai Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation’s (MTDC) Hop-On Hop-Off (HO-HO) bus service for tourists in Mumbai and suburbs is scheduled to be launched in the next two weeks.
Although 11 buses were designed and procured six years ago, the services will take off with two buses which can carry a capacity of 45 passengers. The service will cover iconic and tourist spots in the island city and suburbs and facilitate tourists to take any bus in the fleet at their convenience.
MTDC has appointed an agency for the operation of the services for three years. The buses that were gathering dust at Santracruz BEST depot, are being readied for operations. The MTDC and the agency are in the process of finalising the list of the places on the tourist map and the fare.
The services will be launched by taking a team of a few dignitaries on a short city tour on December 6. However, regular operations for tourist will be launched only after two weeks. All 11 buses are expected to be in service in next five to six weeks.
“The buses will have state-of-the-art sitting and dining arrangements. Tourists can hover around for ample time at the tourist place of their choice and take the next bus in the fleet. The fares will be competitive. Tourists will be taken to some of the government places like Vidhan Bhavan where private tour operators are not allowed. This will help us in standing out in the competition,” said Akhilesh Shukla, manager, accounts and general administration department, MTDC.
Conceptualised in 2014, the fleet of 11 buses for the HO-HO services were procured in 2016 at the cost of ₹6 crore. The services could not see the light of the day because of the litigation and technical issues like road taxes accumulated for years. The bidding process to appoint an operator received poor response leading to the further delay. Covid-19 lockdown and 2019-general election code of conduct also delayed the roll out, according to officials. After the Shinde-Fadnavis government pushed for it, the transport department has waived off the road tax on buses for last six years. The taxes were as high as ₹80,000 per bus per three months.
“The agency which has taken the responsibility of the operation, is bearing the cost of refurbishment of the buses that were in bad shape. There will be two fleets of five and six buses for island city and suburbs. It will be an app-based operation for the convenience of the tourists who will be given the service every 45 minutes at the tourism spots. Managing with timing of the services, the tourists will be able to spend as much time as they like at a particular tourist spot,” said another official from the tourism department of the state government.
