Covid puts brakes on Ambari tours

NT Correspondent

Mysuru: Ever since cases of Covid-19 started increasing in Mysuru, there have not been any takers for city rounds of the Heritage City in six Ambari open roof double decker buses since January 8.

This tour is the initiative of Karnataka State Tourism Department Corporation. The buses, which were launched on March 2 last year, made a minimum of at least one trip a day during weekdays, and at least two trips per day during weekends despite the pandemic.

These buses are aesthetically designed with the painting of elephants over it. These were introduced for tourists to enjoy the scenic, historical, heritage structures of Mysuru. Each bus can accommodate 40 people and it has inbuilt a recorded audio system to provide commentary on each heritage structure it covers.

The trip, which begins near KSTDC office at Hotel Mayura here, covers 30 kms covering major historical heritage structures in the city, including the Deputy Commissioner’s office, Crawford Hall, Kukkarahalli Lake, University of Mysore, Folklore Museum, Ramaswamy Circle, Mysuru palace, Mysore zoo, Karanji Lake, Jockey Quarters’ Circle, Snow City, Chamundi Vihar Stadium, St. Philomena’s Church, Bannimantap, and City Railway Station. The tour culminates at Hotel Mayura KSTDC office.

When contacted, tourism department sources said, “We have not made any trips since January 8 of this month. If we get at least ten people we can run the buses”.

Each bus is expected to do four trips a day and the cost of each trip is Rs 250.