MADURAITamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, Madurai Region, has introduced a sight-seeing package covering important tourist and pilgrimage spots here to lure passengers to its services.
TNSTC officials on Thursday distributed pamphlets explaining the attractions of the package to passengers at various bays around Periyar bus stand. The tourist special package is offered in the morning and the evening every day.
“We started this one month back during the Ayyappa season. It got good response from the devotees, who used our services to visit the places of tourism importance and temples,” said Assistant Engineer (Operations) R. Ashok Kumar.
The package for ₹125 per passenger starts at Ellis Nagar bus bay at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. It covers Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Gandhi Museum, Teppakulam and Tirumalai Naicker Mahal. “The passengers have the option of either choosing Kallazhagar Temple at Alagarkoil or Subramaniaswamy Temple at Tirupparankundram in this itinerary,” he added.
For this group tour, the TNSTC has spared two buses.
“These buses will drop them at these tourist spots and wait for them to board to proceed towards the next spot,” he added. Each tour package would last for nearly six hours.
“If people are going to travel on their own, bus fare to all these places will be around ₹200 for each passenger. Besides, people will need to know the locations of the tourist spots and the bus routes to reach there. The package is cheaper and it gets them exclusive vehicles with all privacy,” he added.
TNSTC officials are also trying to get faster darshan at the temples for their passengers with the help of temple authorities.
“We would like to add Keeladi and the Jain cave at Keezhakuyilkudi to our itinerary depending upon the response from the public,” Mr. Ashok Kumar added.
The TNSTC is also ready to provide additional buses for this package if more people want to use it. The officials also encouraged people to use TNSTC buses instead of private vehicles or share autorickshaws to reduce air pollution.