GSRTC to run 600 special Diwali buses today

Surat: Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) will run 600 buses from Surat to various parts of Gujarat and to neighbouring states on Tuesday in order to cater to the Diwali rush. Nearly 1,000 buses have already made trips across the state till Monday.
GSRTC had launched ‘ST at your doorstep’ programme for those travelling to their native places during Diwali festival a few years ago. Buses will be transporting passenger to various districts of Saurashtra, central Gujarat, north Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“There is a huge demand for buses during Diwali. People were earlier dependent on private transport a few years ago,” said Sanjay Joshi, divisional controller, GSRTC.
“In the last four years we have gradually developed a comprehensive model in which the passengers can get a bus from their doorstep in the city and it will drop them at their village,” Joshi told TOI.
The ‘ST at your doorstep’ programme is giving tough competition to private bus operators with affordable fares and better connectivity, he added.
GSRTC plans to run over 1,500 buses this festive season to different routes.