Intercity Bus travel reviews

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

I found these Specially packed ARC water bottles for KPN travels.
Think they are offered in AP routes.

I had seen cartons of this "brand" of water kept at KPN's office in Coimbatore. They did not provide water in the CBE-Bangalore day-service. As you said, they might be offering water bottles in long distance services.

[DWind]

And..is this ARC brand water owned by the same ARC Travels company?

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by DWind

And..is this ARC brand water owned by the same ARC Travels company?

Its their group company and their bottling unit is near Palani - down hills of Kodaikanal!

[pypkmsrikanth]

I have clocked 126 kmph on GPS durin one of the trips taken on SRM multi-axle to Trivandrum.

[girishglg]

Had travelled to Mantralayam and back from Bangalore in a KSRTC Airavata Volvo Club Class Semi Sleeper. The overall experience was very good. Left Majestic bus stand a little before time since all were aboard. The driver had to wade through the chaos of buses parked all over and it was a small wonder how he got the big white elephant (Airavat) out unscathed. We were out on time at 9:29 PM and took the Bangalore - Hyderabad highway NH7. We were out of town in less than an hour and had the designated stop at Kamat - Chikballapur. Had a quick cofee break to digest some voilent Kannada movie played till that time. Thankfully as promised the conductor switched it off after the stop. The ride was excellent as we travelled on the smooth NH and had a good nap. We reached outskirts of Adoni at around 3 AM or some thing where the driver had a quick tea break. We reached our destination at 4:30 AM a good half an hour early.

Since we returned on the same night, we got the same bus, same staff, however seated right at the first row, earlier it was last but 3rd. The departure was again on schedule and we got our rightful bottle of water and blankets. The temperature was set at a comfortable 23 Degree C. Since it was the first row of seats, the sight of the road ahead was visible unhindered till the blinds were pulled out. The legroom was lesser compared to other seats since we had the front barrier at least for me but could stretch out on the aisle. The driving was smooth without any surprises. However the climb over speed breakers were speedy to say the least as he did not bother to completely slow down. Not sure what would happen to the suspension in the long run. Earlier chatting with the driver, the bus a Volvo multi axle was one of the brand new additions, just about a month old, no rattles, no niggles, a beauty on road. The seats IMO were better even in terms of width and saddle than the normal Volvos which I have travelled many times. It was a Euro 3, not sure how it still gets registered as a KA - 01. We reached Shantinagar bus stand exactly at 5 AM from where we drove off on a waiting taxi. Overall a very pleasant experience. Just a word of note here, there are 2 volvo service to Mantralayam, one being the other older normal Volvo. The seats get booked very quickly on the Club Class service, hence it is advisable to book it at the earliest as it the most comfortable and the quickest, just takes 7 hours for the journey.

[vineethvazhayil]

I took the SRM Multi Axle volvo service from Chennai to Palakkad (Took the Calicut bus, so got down at Olavakkode which is much closer home for me)
Some key points -
Boarded the bus at SRMs own little terminal in Koyambedu - its between the MTC and Private Bus stations - easily accessible
The bus waiting area is decently big, and they have a lot of schedules that depart on Fridays - so the place is crowded. They have a dedicated waiting area, toilets and a booking office inside a fenced property. A lot of buses are parked inside, some come from outside and pick passengers and leave.
The bus I had to travel in was the only one that was late that day, and I was secretly glad it was late, else I wud have been dropped in Palakkad at an odd hour. Due to the delays (around 45 mins - 1 hour), I reached only by 6.
The bus itself was reasonably comfortable. I was sitting right below the second tv screen, but i had an eye patch to prevent myself from torture. The seats were comfortable, but I felt the Mercedes multi axle that I took operated by Bharathi travels between Bangalore and Chennai was better. Driving was smooth mostly, once or twice some sudden braking. I saw 98 km/h on the GPS when I was awake.

In desperate situations, when I don't get train tickets, I might take SRM again, but getting to CMBT from Thoraipakkam - a pain I don't like.

[dhandapanik]

KSRTC Vaibhav - Built in TML's LPO 1618 12M chassis with AirSuspension. These are 48 seaters built by Veera.

Short review by my friend who recently used it.
-Interiors are neately done with Vinyl material of light grey color all around.
-Empty TV box has been avoided this time and a big glass partitions the driver compartment from that of pax.
-The luggage rack has been designed in a such a way that the opening is bit wide to take in slightly bigger bags.
-Charging points have been provided at the front, end and middle portion of the bus.
-The emergency/ventilation doors on the roof had fans which ran to circulate air. A good move as due to winter season everyone had closed the side glasses.
-Seats are from Hairta, they are bit slightly of lesser width towards the top portion. I am six footer and i did not face any difficulty with the leg room as the seat in the front was hardly reclining. The reclining angle of seats is so bad that you hardly feel any comfort. Initially for 2hrs it was comfortable, but once i got into sleep mode i often woke up due to neck pain which was due to insufficient width of seat at the top portion and due to insuffcient incline of seats. This issue i kept facing throught the journey and i usually face this when trying to sleep 3*2 config seat buses. The Vaibhav spec doc claims the incline to be 100mm. I feel that KaSRTC guys should set the spec for more incline as enough leg room is present for these seats to dip a bit. The nine hour journey was bit unpleasant just because of the poor seat set up..

Below pics are from Kanchipuram-Bangalore Vaibhav's.




Emergency Exit doors of Vaibhav. Notice the size of the Emergency door present in this KSRTC Vaibhav service. Omni bus operators should learn from KSRTC for fitting such "Usable" Emergency exit doors.


Interior Pics: Photo Copyright: R.Subramanaian




Fare details


More pics.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

KSRTC Vaibhav - Built in TML's LPO 1618 12M chassis with AirSuspension. These are 48 seaters built by Veera.

I have seen these buses on road and they look good, but I wanted to know if there are any differences in this bus compared to the Rajahamsa (apart from the chassis).

IMO, it would be better if KSRTC stuck to one type of branding rather than create multiple brands and chuck them out after a few months. For example, I don't see the Mayura and Meghadoot branded services any more.

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I have seen these buses on road and they look good, but I wanted to know if there are any differences in this bus compared to the Rajahamsa (apart from the chassis).

IMO, it would be better if KSRTC stuck to one type of branding rather than create multiple brands and chuck them out after a few months. For example, I don't see the Mayura and Meghadoot branded services any more.

Rajahamsa has both 10.8M and 12M chassis with 36 and 44 SC respectively. Latest 12M Rajahamsas are coming out in 1618 and Vaibhav's are also built on same chassis. So far we have seen only TML chassis in Vaibhav. Rajahamsa has both TML and AL chassis. Basic difference of Vaibhav and Rajahamsa is the seating configuration.

Find the details of services(Non Volvo's, Corono's, and MBs) operated by KSRTC and their details.

Karnataka Sarige --> 3X2 seaters. 55 seats in total.

Karnataka Viabhav --> 48 seats, seats reclining 22 degrees, driver and passenger partition, Air suspension

Rajahamsa Compact --> 51 seater, seats reclining 20 degrees, no driver and passenger partition, Air suspension

Rajahamsa Executive --> 36/44 seats, seats reclining 30+ degrees, driver and passenger partition, Air suspension

Rajahamsa AC --> 44 Seats with AC built on 225HP AL Chassis. Posted the pic already. Only two buses were introduced.

Sheetal AC --> 3X2 Seats. 60 Seats in total with AC comfort.

Sheetal Plus AC --> 2X2 Seats. 51 Seats with No push Back. Currently seeing this running in Vellore-Bangalore route.

Mayura AC(35 seaters) and Meghdoota AC(44/45 seaters) are phased out in KSRTC.

Note: Rajahamsa CS and AC are still in trial phase. Not sure what will be the fate of them.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Mayura AC(35 seaters) and Meghdoota AC(44/45 seaters) are phased out in KSRTC.

Rajahamsa AC was supposed to replace Mayura/Meghadoota brands. However, the concept did not really succeed. Mayura/Meghadoota still survives in NEKRTC and NWKRTC. KSRTC still runs a few Meghadoota services - most of the routes served by Meghadootas are now getting replaced by Airavats (the old MarkII/III ones).

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Note: Rajahamsa CS and AC are still in trial phase. Not sure what will be the fate of them.

Rajahamsa CS is what became "Karnataka Vaibhav" now. They replaced one row of seats with the driver partition, and as a result are giving more comfort to passengers.

The current classes of services offered by KaSRTC in ascending order of cost is:

1. Gramantara Sarige (Ordinary Services)
2. Karnataka Sarige ("Suvarna Karnataka Sarige" in case of KSRTC, "Vaayavya Karnataka Sarige" in case of NWKRTC and "Ishanya Karnataka Sarige" in case of NEKRTC)
3. Karnataka Vaibhav
4. Sheetal/Sheetal Plus
5. Rajahamsa
6. Rajahamsa (AC) / Mayura / Meghadoota
7. Airavat / Mercedes Benz
8. Airavat Club Class (Volvo/Merc Multi-axles).

Other than the above, they have
1. Non-AC Sleeper
2. Corona AC Sleeper (Ambaari)

They had a few "Ambaari" seater buses as well - they were Corona buses. Not sure if the buses still survive.

In addition to these, they have a variety of "Sariges" including but not restricted to "Samparka Sarige", "Gadinadu Sarige", "Sthaliya Sarige", and so on. Then they have "Nagara Sarige" (City buses).

KaSRTC has way too many brands - many of them overlapping with each other.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by binaiks

1. Gramantara Sarige (Ordinary Services)
2. Karnataka Sarige ("Suvarna Karnataka Sarige" in case of KSRTC, "Vaayavya Karnataka Sarige" in case of NWKRTC and "Ishanya Karnataka Sarige" in case of NEKRTC)
3. Karnataka Vaibhav
4. Sheetal/Sheetal Plus
5. Rajahamsa
6. Rajahamsa (AC) / Mayura / Meghadoota
7. Airavat / Mercedes Benz
8. Airavat Club Class (Volvo/Merc Multi-axles).
...
Other than the above, they have
1. Non-AC Sleeper
2. Corona AC Sleeper (Ambaari)

What make is the Sheetal/Sheetal Plus brand of buses?

I think the Non-AC sleeper buses aren't there in good numbers. Some are built on LPO1613 and some are Coronas.

btw, a bit OT - congratulations on being a Senior-BHPian, Binai

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by silversteed

What make is the Sheetal/Sheetal Plus brand of buses?

I've seen only Leylands - all 12M 177hp ones. I haven't seen any TATAs - not sure if there are any.

Originally Posted by silversteed

I think the Non-AC sleeper buses aren't there in good numbers. Some are built on LPO1613 and some are Coronas.

They are introducing new Non-AC Sleepers almost every week now. Aren't they built on 1618s? I was thinking so. Coronas are mostly run as AC Sleepers, with some older ones getting run as non-AC now. Honestly, I find the Corona ones to be too good - they have very nice ride quality.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by binaiks

They are introducing new Non-AC Sleepers almost every week now. Aren't they built on 1618s? I was thinking so. Coronas are mostly run as AC Sleepers, with some older ones getting run as non-AC now. Honestly, I find the Corona ones to be too good - they have very nice ride quality.

The one I'd seen last friday was a 1613c. There's every chance that they mixed up the badging also. Reason being, I saw a Rajahamsa built on a 1613c with a 1316 badge.

How do the Coronas fare in terms of pick-up, acceleration, NVH etc? They have a 160bhp engine and the AC is engine driven, isn't it? Never been in one.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by silversteed

How do the Coronas fare in terms of pick-up, acceleration, NVH etc? They have a 160bhp engine and the AC is engine driven, isn't it? Never been in one.

They are a bit sluggish at the beginning, but make up later on. During my journey, the Corona was overtaking Volvos left, right, centre. The NVH levels are bit higher than a Volvo - you can hear the engine pretty well. The ride is top class, though.

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by binaiks

They had a few "Ambaari" seater buses as well - they were Corona buses. Not sure if the buses still survive.

Below is the ambaari seater which came as spl to Madurai. Saw this last week in Madurai MIBT.
Photo Copyright: DolphinsTuti@Arun

Originally Posted by binaiks

They are introducing new Non-AC Sleepers almost every week now. Aren't they built on 1618s? I was thinking so. Coronas are mostly run as AC Sleepers, with some older ones getting run as non-AC now. Honestly, I find the Corona ones to be too good - they have very nice ride quality.

Below is the Non AC Sleeper built by RWS Kengeri. It is running in Bangalore-Trichy route. Sorry for the poor quality pic.

Originally Posted by silversteed

How do the Coronas fare in terms of pick-up, acceleration, NVH etc? They have a 160bhp engine and the AC is engine driven, isn't it? Never been in one.

I have used a Corona Ambaari Sleeper 3 weeks before in Bangalore-Coimbatore. Best quality sleeper service i have used till date. Maintenance was top class. Only prob i found is the speed, it was dead slow. Started at Bangalore by 10.10(20 minutes late) and reached Coimbatore by 6.30 AM.

Latest corona's AC Sleepers comes with "BS 111 6BT Engine with an output of 180 BHP"

Source: Corona Models | Corona Bus Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd.

Few pics of Bangalore-Coimbatore Corona AC Sleeper.