PANAJI: To cater to passenger demand ahead of the festive Diwali weekend, the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) has opened online bookings for three interstate locations — Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai — after a gap of eight months. Buses to these destinations were suspended in mid-March owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
People from the three locations can now book tickets directly on www.redbus.in if they seek to travel to Goa. While two routes – Pune and Bengaluru (including Mangaluru) — have resumed, the service to Mumbai will start from Thursday. Interstate buses to Hyderabad, however, will not restart for now.
“Most of the passengers from Hyderabad come to Goa to play at casinos. They usually arrive on Fridays and leave on Sundays, which is how we were able to operate the frequent trips prior to the pandemic,” a KTC official said.
There is, however, poor response from passengers from Goa to travel to these destinations. “So far, there are nearly 20 people booking tickets on the Mumbai-Goa route, but no takers for the Goa-Mumbai route,” the official said.
Nevertheless, anticipating good response from tourists, KTC is hoping to resume full-fledged services soon.
“As of now, we are only running the interstate buses for the long weekend owing to Diwali,” the official said.