Two more buses to ply from Ghaziabad to Nepal

According to officials, the buses are popular in Ghaziabad as well as in Nepal and the two additional buses will start plying from the first week of May

GHAZIABAD: With buses from Sahibabad depot to Nepal running at full occupancy for the past four months, the Uttar Pradesh State Roadways Corporation (UPSRTC) has applied for permit to ply two more buses to Nepal. Currently, there are two buses running from Ghaziabad to Mahendranagar in Nepal.

Due to its increasing popularity, passengers are booking seats two to three weeks in advance. (Sakib Ali/HT)

According to officials, the buses are popular in Ghaziabad as well as in Nepal and the two additional buses will start plying from the first week of May.

“The route taken by the buses is via Sahibabad bus depot to Anand Vihar bus depot. Due to its increasing popularity, passengers are booking seats two to three weeks in advance. Once the additional buses start plying, passengers will, hopefully, be spared the long wait for a seat to free up,” said PK Bose, UPSRTC’s regional manager, Ghaziabad.

Officials said the demand for buses going to Nepal has increased threefold.

“Generally, all seats get booked online and the waiting time for a seat is as long as two weeks. The popularity of these buses picked up within three months. When they started plying, the occupancy was about 70%-75% and there was no waiting list. However, now, seats are being booked weeks in advance,” said Anil Kumar, additional regional manager, Sahibabad bus depot.

He added that a large number of passengers travelling to Nepal are tourists.

After a night-long journey, the buses halt at 5.30am at Kanchanpur bus depot in Nepal, six kilometres from the Indian border. They then make their way towards Mahendranagar bus terminal, which is 13 kilometres from the Indian border

A general 2x2 bus was started in December last year with a fare of Rs 480 and,in January, an AC 2x2 bus was started with a fare of Rs 570 to Nepal. The additional buses too will be air-conditioned, UPSRTC officials said.

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