City Sightseeing buses have arrived in
Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around
the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now
in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business
in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014.
The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major
locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the
Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square,
Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov
Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any
stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time.
Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take
photographs when the bus stops at each location.
There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35
lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family day tickets for
75 lari. Children under 7 years are free. Other combination tickets are also
available. Tour commentaries are currently in two languages: English and
Russian. The first tour starts at 11:00am and the last tour starts at 6:00pm.
The main office is in the Old City at
Meidan Square (Kote Abkhazi Street, near the river and bridge) – where people
can purchase tickets – and the buses leave at scheduled times, whether there
are passengers on board or not, so that anyone at a location around the city
can hop back on at a time designated for that site (passengers are given a
timetable and route map when they purchase a ticket).
For the winter months, the bus is enclosed,
but for spring and summer, the company aims to have three open-top buses
operating from May or June 2014. As the bus leaves its first stop at Meidan
Square it snakes through the narrow road of the Old City. The overhanging
branches of the trees lining the picturesque street produce scratch marks on
the top-floor windows, so I’m not sure how passengers will fare in the
open-topped buses. The company is also currently negotiating with the Batumi
Tourism Agency to offer trips around the Black Sea tourist city of Batumi.
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