Malaysia: Why You Should Consider Hop-On Hop-Off Penang?

Let me start with a confession.

I don’t usually take a tour bus to travel around a city I’m visiting just to get to places of interests in that city. My preference would be either to walk around or take a public transport - like a local – to see as much of the city as possible. That way, you (sometimes) get to talk with a local, and more often than not, you might get some recommendations too on places to go or food to try, for example, that are not usually listed in travel guides or even travel blogs. Some might call this travelling the local's way.

This however changed when I tried Hop-On Hop-Off (HOHO) bus service in Kuala Lumpur a few months back. I started to appreciate how such a service could be useful, to a lot of people, including myself. This was why I was looking forward to trying HOHO Penang when I was in town for about 5 days for the #MyFascinatingPenang programme in August 2015, to see if the same holds true in Penang.

HOHO Penang offers two different routes that cover the city part of George Town, and the beach side of Penang. (See map here). The good thing is a HOHO ticket covers both routes, so you are free to make your plans and choose whichever route you like once you have your ticket, which can be bought on board the bus, by the way.

HOHO stop no. 13

Why do I say the service could be useful to a lot of people? Here are the advantages that I’ve personally learnt after using the HOHO Penang over 4 days on the Pearl Island.

1. Coverage - HOHO Penang has 33 stops that can cover more than 60 places of interests in Penang. I know I wouldn’t be able to cover all 60 places in just one day or two, or even over the 5 days I was in town, but it’s good to know that I could go anyplace I'd like to cover without much hassle.
2. Saves time – How? You don’t have to waste time waiting and checking which local bus to take to go to wherever you want to go, as HOHO Penang has done the job for you by covering most of the places of interests along their 2 routes. The routes are easy to understand, and the map of interesting places makes planning your trip even easier.
3. Easy – It’s easy to use, and a day ticket can be used for 24 hours, e.g. if you start late in the day, say at 2 p.m. on a Monday, the day ticket is valid until 2 p.m. Tuesday. And there’s no need to worry about getting ready with some small change either for the ticket like you’d need to if you’re using a local bus. 
4. Information about places – Sometimes we don’t know or are not aware of some interesting places because we might have missed them when we do our research (that is if we do it at all, heh! ;) ) about places that we want to cover. With HOHO Penang, they have a bus conductor who also doubles as a tour guide on each bus and these personnel would give a briefing and even anecdotes about places along the way while you’re on board the bus. Found something or someplace that intrigues you after listening to the guide? All you need to do is just hop off the bus at the designated stop, go explore the place, and then wait for the next HOHO bus once you’ve finished exploring. Easy or what?
5. Personal recommendations – I mentioned about possibility of getting some local recommendations whilst travelling on a local bus. Having a guide on board HOHO Penang means that you can ask him/her for their recommendations. And the best thing is they are more likely to be at least conversant in English. 
6. Air conditioned buses and an open deck area on the upper deck – This might seem trivial to some but you wouldn’t understand or appreciate air conditioners until after you’ve walked around a place or two under the blazing sun. ;) 
7. Free Wi-Fi – Okay, this is just a bonus, an icing on the cake. Having a free Wi-Fi access whilst on the bus not only can help you with your *cough* research *cough* about places you’re going to, but also allows you to get connected with family and friends; and of course, upload the photos of the places you’ve just been to onto your Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter account. After all, sharing is caring, right? ;)

HOHO Stop No. 12

So, you might ask, is there any disadvantage at all in using HOHO Penang?

Well, yes, I can think of one. 

It might not be as easy or as quick to get to some places if you need to head in the opposite direction. The City route especially, works in a circular manner, heading just in one direction. So if you miss a stop, or want to go back to the previous stop, you’d just have to continue ahead and go around in a circle if you continue using the bus. Similarly if you want to go to a nearby place but on 2 different routes, e.g. You’re in Gurney Drive area but would like to go to Padang Kota/ The Esplanade. These two places are somewhat near to each other but are located on 2 different routes. You’d need to take a HOHO bus (Beach route) to Chowrasta, get off and wait for the City route HOHO to travel to Padang Kota. So it might not be a bit practical there, especially if you’re in a rush.

However, if you plan well in advance, and are aware of where to go and get off, you shouldn’t have any problem.

So anyways… where else did I go with my HOHO Penang tickets? Read about 5 Places in Penang Which You Might Want to Skip but Probably Shouldn’t. 

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Further Information

Hop-On Hop-Off Penang official website.

A Thank You & Disclosure Note

I would like to thank the organiser of My Fascinating Penang, My Amazing Malaysia, as well as the management of Hop-On Hop-Off Penang for the arrangement to use their service whilst in Penang. The use of HOHO Penang was sponsored as part of My Fascinating Penang 2015 programme. The sponsorship however has in no way affected my view of the service, other than the fact that it sure has some advantages for a lot of visitors, as listed above. ;)

Other official sponsors for the programme include, among others, the following: 

Hotels:	St. Giles Wembley, The Chambers Hotel, Ren i Tang Heritage Inn, Evergreen Laurel Hotel
Attractions:	Escape.My, Tropical Spice Garden, The Camera Museum, Made in Penang Interactive Museum
Transportation:	Hop-On Hop-Off Penang, Easybook.com

For all other blog entries on My Fascinating Penang, click here. For more photos, please check out Ramble and Wander's Facebook page