Ahmedabad extra ST buses will operate 1,800 additional trips during the Diwali vacation to manage the seasonal rush of passengers travelling to Saurashtra, Kutch, Kathiawad and Panchmahal. The special services will run from 2 November to 8 November 2026, alongside regular state transport operations.
The Ahmedabad division of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation has planned the additional services from Geeta Mandir, Ranip and other bus stands across the city. The arrangement is intended to support passengers travelling to their hometowns and holiday destinations during the week-long vacation period.
The additional trips will serve routes towards Sanand, Botad, Amreli, Junagadh, Rajkot and Bhuj in the Saurashtra, Kathiawad and Kutch regions. Extra services will also be operated towards Dahod, Zalod, Bariya, Santrampur and Godhra in the Panchmahal region.
According to the report by Gujarat Samachar – Ahmedabad, the number of additional services may be increased on routes where passenger demand is higher. The Ahmedabad division has not indicated that all 1,800 trips will operate from a single terminal; instead, buses will be deployed from Geeta Mandir, Ranip and other bus stands depending on the route and operational requirement.
The seasonal plan also includes a group-booking facility under the ST corporation’s ‘Bus Aapne Dwar’ scheme. If a society, organisation or passenger group books an entire bus, the corporation will arrange pickup from the entrance of the group’s housing society and take passengers directly to their destination.
The pickup option is designed for groups travelling together and is intended to reduce the need to carry luggage to Geeta Mandir or another bus stand. It also creates a more local access point for passengers who would otherwise have to first travel across Ahmedabad to board an inter-city service.
The arrangement reflects the annual pressure placed on Ahmedabad’s inter-city transport network during the Diwali vacation, when travel demand rises towards hometowns in north and central Gujarat as well as the Saurashtra and Kutch regions. For passengers, the main operational difference will be the availability of additional departures during the specified period, subject to route-level demand and the corporation’s scheduling decisions.
The ST corporation’s Ahmedabad division will run the extra services between 2 November and 8 November. Passengers planning group travel will need to use the full-bus booking facility to access society-gate pickup under the ‘Bus Aapne Dwar’ scheme, while individual passengers will use the designated bus stands and regular booking channels.
