[Sudan_NFS]

Thanks for Pics Agspins.The trailer looks so huge man.and moving those need real power.at least 1000 BHP so they might use two tackers to pull the weight as they use in railways attaching two engines for heavy goods.

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

I am not sure how it works in Kerala with seats for ladies at the front.

At least not in Trivandrum city buses run by KSRTC. Seats for the ladies are at the back, with doors at the back and front/middle. The rear door is supposed to be for entry only while that in the front is for exit.

The front/middle entry will have a door openable from inside only.

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by amit V8

i don't get it, how will the volvos pull something massive like that??

also what are these things marked in the picture??

Attachment 227178

The samller Circles correspont to couplers for joining and forming the road train.

The bigger Circles correspond to dead weight to avoid slipping of the driving wheels.

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by Transsenger

The Volvo LE buses for trivandrum under Jnnurm is expected to be inaugrated on 17th.

Photos during the launch on 17/11/09 in Trivandrum.

Photo credits: Ajaypp, SkyscraperCity - Powered by vBulletin



















Photo credits: Potti.



Ticket Rates:

East Fort - Palayam > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pattoor > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pettah > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Chacka > Rs.14.00
East Fort - All Saints > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Shanghumugham > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Airport (via Palayam) > Rs.22.00
East Fort - Airport (via Eenchakkal) > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Thiruvallam > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Kovalam > Rs.26.00
East Fort - Medical College > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Ulloor > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Kaniyapuram > Rs.38.00
East Fort - Kowdiar > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Sasthamangalam > Rs.14.00
Thampanoor - Vellayambalam > Rs.10.00
Thampanoor - Sasthamangalam > Rs.14.00
Thampanoor - Airport (via Palayam) > Rs.22.00
Sasthamangalam - Airport (via Thampanoor,Palayam) > Rs.34.00
Kowdiar - Airport (via East Fort,Eenchakkal) > Rs.30.00
Kovalam - Kaniyapuram > Rs.60.00

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

Photos during the launch on 17/11/09 in Trivandrum.

Ticket Rates:

East Fort - Palayam > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pattoor > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pettah > Rs.14.00

As the Surya news report suggested, the TVM market is elastic to such expensive bus fares and as the opening day showed, the public spurned such buses - however good they may be, there is a limit to the price that one can pay to travel in a city like TVM. Senseless to fritter away so much of money buying super-expensive buses when you could buy several aam-janta buses of the ordinary variety for that much money - after all, this money is being spent by bankrupt governments, looting the public of taxes, and the least one can do in such strained financial circumstances is to concentrate on first providing basic bus services, increasing frequency of services and getting more number of buses on the road and not just put swanky buses on the road!

The number of aam-janta thumbing for lifts on Indian cities and highways - because of pathetic public transport - highlights what is needed to improve bus services, and AC buses, hydraulic doors and limited seating capacities are going nowhere to fulfill the primary purpose of public transport (when it is funded by public money).

I remember the "Terra Plabe" bus service between Trivandrum and Ernakulam in the '70s - superfast buses doing the 220 km run in 4 hours (other buses took 6 hours and more), with its own toilet (AC was unknown at that time), the pride of KSRTC - but flopped miserably because it charged Rs 25 a seat against Rs 9 for the other buses - a testimonial that tariffs cannot be immune to conflicting demands of affordability and comfort.

Sorry to sound so critical, but time will tell - will the new Volvo buses in TVM last the year? How much losses will KSRTC run up on this account?

[harishnair]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Sorry to sound so critical, but time will tell - will the new Volvo buses in TVM last the year? How much losses will KSRTC run up on this account?

It was a real bad idea to give the responsibility of running of these buses to the KSRTC.They are already burdened with heavy loses and God only knows how they will find funding for the maintenance of these Volvos.

[foby.sebastian]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

Photos during the launch on 17/11/09 in Trivandrum.

Photo credits: Ajaypp, SkyscraperCity - Powered by vBulletin

Attachment 231072

Attachment 231073

Attachment 231074

Attachment 231075

Attachment 231076

Attachment 231077

Attachment 231078

Attachment 231079

Attachment 231080

Photo credits: Potti.

Attachment 231081

Ticket Rates:

East Fort - Palayam > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pattoor > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Pettah > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Chacka > Rs.14.00
East Fort - All Saints > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Shanghumugham > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Airport (via Palayam) > Rs.22.00
East Fort - Airport (via Eenchakkal) > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Thiruvallam > Rs.10.00
East Fort - Kovalam > Rs.26.00
East Fort - Medical College > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Ulloor > Rs.18.00
East Fort - Kaniyapuram > Rs.38.00
East Fort - Kowdiar > Rs.14.00
East Fort - Sasthamangalam > Rs.14.00
Thampanoor - Vellayambalam > Rs.10.00
Thampanoor - Sasthamangalam > Rs.14.00
Thampanoor - Airport (via Palayam) > Rs.22.00
Sasthamangalam - Airport (via Thampanoor,Palayam) > Rs.34.00
Kowdiar - Airport (via East Fort,Eenchakkal) > Rs.30.00
Kovalam - Kaniyapuram > Rs.60.00

Awsome , thanks for the fare list though.

[Trapezio]

I agree. KSRTC is the last one I would trust with such buses. Instead of Volvos what KSRTC needs is a complete reorganization. There are lots of employees who report for duty only once a week!

Also they simply do not have city buses in the entire state. They should have went for the Tata Marco Polo or Ashok Leyland Citybuses and increase the coverage rather than going for this elite fleet.

What is the point of having most modern city buses in Trivandrum when in Cochin (the commercial hub) their buses looks like huts on wheels! What about Calicut?

Last, Kerala is not the kind of place where people are desperate to enter Volvos! With this kind of tariffs I would not be surprised if they simply add to the congestion with the humongous space they occupy on the road rather than helping the poor ordinary people of Kerala. I cannot understand the logic of expecting an ordinary man who say works in the government electricity department to pay 30 Rupees for each trip. That works out to be around 18,000 Rupees a year!

To sum up, what is the priority with these buses? Is it buses for the usage of ordinary people? OR is it 'extraordinary' buses which ordinary people can watch from the side of the road?

[deepclutch]

Originally Posted by Trapezio

What is the point of having most modern city buses in Trivandrum when in Cochin (the commercial hub) their buses looks like huts on wheels! What about Calicut?

The point is ,trivandrum is the capital of the state.

Even in Cochin City ,These Volvo's will not catch the Fancy in many Areas except the core region(thrippunithura-city-kakkanad-aluva).But ,I Hope in Kochi ,these buses will sure Run.

[Wind]

Are the JNNURM buses in Bangalore different than the Mysore ones reported in today's Hindu?

The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : KSRTC’s low-floor bus a hit

-- Wind

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Sorry to sound so critical, but time will tell - will the new Volvo buses in TVM last the year? How much losses will KSRTC run up on this account?

Originally Posted by harishnair

It was a real bad idea to give the responsibility of running of these buses to the KSRTC.They are already burdened with heavy loses and God only knows how they will find funding for the maintenance of these Volvos.

By KSRTC do we mean Kerla or Karnataka one. The Karnataka one is Profitable (but then TVM means it's Kerela). Busses under JNURM are sponsered by Central Government.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by manishalive

By KSRTC do we mean Kerla or Karnataka one. The Karnataka one is Profitable (but then TVM means it's Kerela). Busses under JNURM are sponsered by Central Government.

In both Kerala and Karnataka, the STU is known as KSRTC. In this case, we are discussing the Kerala STU, which not only runs intra-state public transport but also city bus services in Trivandrum city. Kochi has mostly private buses, but under JNURM, some KSRTC buses are being commissioned there also.

[Trapezio]

Originally Posted by deepclutch

The point is ,trivandrum is the capital of the state.

Even in Cochin City ,These Volvo's will not catch the Fancy in many Areas except the core region(thrippunithura-city-kakkanad-aluva).But ,I Hope in Kochi ,these buses will sure Run.

JnnURM is not restricted to capital cities. Its meant for urdan areas. That is why Mysore received it in Karnataka for example.

Personally I find Cochin more urban than Trivandrum any day. But perhaps I am wrong here.

I did not say that in Cochin Volvos will be popular. What we need is simple, comfortable, reliable, safe, affordable and decent urban transport solutions and not ego trips with hi-tech buses for the top 0.00001%.

[MileCruncher]

Are these B7R city buses auto transmission like the TATA Marcopolo?

[leodelg]

Although I have to agree with most of the negative posts (KeSRTC shouldn't have bought Volvos, they can't maintain it, the poor can't afford it, etc) I am actually glad that the government decided to go for it. It was a high risk move, but I am hopeful that this move would pay off. The government is now more accountable because it is a program funded by the central government.

My friend from TVM has been tweeting regularly about the Volvo service. There were apparently a few glitches like delays and wrong routes the first couple of days, but the magic tweet that I was looking forward to came in earlier today. "Boarded the Volvo JNT4 from Eastfort. The bus is full!!!" I was one of the many naysayers when the Volvo service was launched by BMTC and I was counting the number of days before they yanked it off the roads. Now they have 350 to 400 buses on the roads. I was very happy to accept defeat.

There are initiatives taken by Technopark to encourage its employees to use the Volvo and make it a success. There is hope. Without risky moves and changes like this, there is no escape from mediocrity. I hope this service is a success and makes us all proud.