Patronage for ‘Bengaluru Darshini’ service of BMTC is improving, but tourism experts recommend more aggressive marketing

In 2023, over 8,100 patrons made use of the sightseeing buses, which brought revenue of ₹32.97 lakh. This year, up to April 2024, the number of passengers had touched 2,578 (₹10.42 lakh), with 836 persons availing the service in April alone.

‘Bengaluru Darshini’, the flagship tourist bus of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), brought in ₹72.59 lakh in revenue from 2021 to April 2024 with 17,800 passengers using the service. The bus offers tourists a chance to visit the major attractions of the city in a day

The Bengaluru Darshini service was launched by BMTC in 2015 by renaming the hop–on–hop–off buses. For a price of ₹400 for an adult and ₹300 for a child, with a service charge of ₹15, a Volvo bus takes tourists to 12 landmarks, and more, in Bengaluru starting from Kempegowda bus stand. The landmarks include Vidhana Soudha, Tipu palace, Bull temple, Lalbagh and Visvesvaraya Museum. 

BMTC officials claim that while only 300 – 400 passengers used to take the service in the pre-pandemic days, the patronage improved after the service was resumed in 2021. While only 685 people travelled in the Darshini buses in 2021, in the next one year, patronage improved 10-fold with over 6,400 people taking the service, bringing in revenue of ₹26.27 lakh. 

“We began widely publicising the service post-pandemic. We placed multiple advertisements in newspapers as well as on social media, and it worked out well for us. The package began to garner more interest from 2022,” said an official of BMTC. 

In 2023, over 8,100 patrons made use of the sightseeing buses, which brought revenue of ₹32.97 lakh. This year, up to April 2024, the number of passengers had touched 2,578 (₹10.42 lakh), with 836 persons availing the service in April alone.

However, this number is insignificant compared to the lakhs of tourists who visit Bengaluru every year, experts said. 

“The product (Bengaluru Darshini) definitely has potential, but it has to be backed by solid marketing for more and more people to take it. BMTC has to increase the scale of its marketing campaigns for this service to reach more people,” said Sanjar Imam, president, Karnataka Tourism Forum (KTF).