CHENNAI: By design or by default, tourists boarding the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation’s ‘Hop on Hop off’ luxury coaches, get a rather personalised treatment on board, perhaps similar to the one enjoyed by air hostess in jumbo planes.Well, if you are already excited about the prospects, here’s the rest of the story. The Guest Relations Executives (GRE) on board move to traveller seats explaining about tourist spots dotting the 40km stretch of the scenic East Coast Road. They patiently entertain questions from the tourists that range from bus timings to food and even sometimes, unrelated topics like politics.Though it may be construed as personal attention being provided to every passenger, the intriguing fact is that the absence of mikes in these luxury coaches have forced the GREs to assist the tourists at their seats. The flip side is that no one’s complaining.Launched on the lines of the ‘Hop on and Hop off’ services in London, the facility that was introduced in February 2009 is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India. The service enables a tourist to start from Chennai, stop at Mamallapuram and pause anywhere along the way where the tourist like to linger around. For the record, the service passes through thirteen spots of tourist attraction along the ECR. The service comes at a nominal fare of `225 per head, with a 25 per cent discount at various theme parks, besides a free boat ride at the Muttukadu Boat House.However, the sheen from the bright yellow colour painted bus appears to be eroding slowly with time, if one goes by the maintenance of the air-conditioned buses shuttling between the city and the shore temple.Unclean floors, faulty DVD players that are used to showcase other tourist spots in the state, and dragged frequency between the buses are some glitches that contribute for the uncomfortable journey.“Hop on Hop off is good at several aspects,” said, GK Reddy from Tumkur near Bangalore, who toured Mamallapuram with his family members last weekend. “But, the long frequency between the buses is difficult, since we will not be able to cover more number of places,” he observed.The ‘Hop on Hop off’ services adopt two kinds of timings depending upon the patronage everyday. Four buses at a frequency of 30 minutes are operated if considerable number of tourists are available, while its services are reduced when there are only a few takers, increasing the waiting period anywhere between 45 minutes and one hour. However, the coaches arrive at the destinations on time, as mentioned in the brochure.Now, all’s well that ends well. But that is not quite so with this service. When exhausted tourists prefer to return to Chennai post lunch owing to soaring temperatures, they are dropped off at VGP from where they have to find their own means of transport to reach the city. This is because the first coach to Chennai leaves at 4.15pm in the evening, which would otherwise shuttle between VGP and Mamallapuram all through the day.When contacted, a senior tourism official stated that the problems would be addressed immediately.
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