[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

SilverSteed - he is referring to Viking Chassis.

Tusker / Taurus etc. were short wheel base - below 200 inches, with absolutely no front overhang.

Cheetahs came with 205 / 201 inch wheelbase, while Viking came with 210 inch or more wheelbase and longer (than cheetah) front and rear over hangs.

[coolclouds]

Luxuria travels started Volvo multi axle services between Chennai and Bangalore. The fare is 1800 and as per the website:

"WHY LUXURIA
The idea germinated from the fact that our country lacks intercity transportation that is luxurious, rivals air travel in certain parameters, and yet is reasonable by offering great value for money.

Luxuria Magazine
To satiate the reading interest of our discerning travellers, we are introducing an in-bus magazine – The Luxuria. This A4 sized glossy magazine, produced once in two months, will have content that our wide clientele of readers would find interesting to read.

Food
Our Pursers on board will serve you with delectable food and refreshments that would be a delight to a gastronome. Feast your eyes on our sumptuous menu and we’re sure you’ll feel refreshed and ready to start anew as you reach your destination.

Amenities
Expect nothing short of a princely treatment on a Luxuria. The multi-axle Volvos provide high-grade leather reclining seats with electronically operated calf support. Entertainment on board is guaranteed with individual screens for each seat – which plays movies and music on demand, plus live satellite television. The bus is WiFi enabled which helps you to work on the go."

(Image from their website)

[pypkmsrikanth]

^^ That's higher than 1A fares in trains. May be they have worked the rate per ticket which enables them break even at lower occupancies.

Incidentally I went to Trivandrum from Chennai by the SRM Multi Axle Volvo last Thursday, the bus started at 8.15 PM from Koyambedu and reached Thampanoor at 8.30 AM next day. This despite spending almost an hour reaching Maduravayol from Koyambedu in addition to spending about an hour for breaks at Nagerkoil, Tirunelveli & refreshment break. Clocked him at 123 kmph on my mobile GPS. Very convenient for those from South Madras catch the bus at Perungulathur at around 9.15 PM and reach TVM at 8.30 PM compared to the train which takes about 14 hours.

[silversteed]

^^^
That's simply amazing. How was the ride quality?

Hey, anyone who's used the Kesineni Volvo from Chennai to Hyderabad? redBus says their 20:00hrs service from Walltax road reaches Hyd at 07:00hrs, while Kesineni personnel tell me that it takes a maximum of 13hours. Am I in for any surprises - pleasant or otherwise?

[coolclouds]

MSN News:

Super luxury inter-city bus services launched
Bangalore, Nov 12 (PTI) Blue Hill Pvt Ltd, the promoters of the ''Nilgiris Supermarket Chain'', today launched a premium, super-luxury inter-city bus service � "Luxuria".
The Volvo buses have been designed by ace automobile designer Dilip Chhabria. With an initial investment of Rs 30 crore for 12 buses and infrastructure, it is likely to be scaled upto Rs 450 crore in the next seven years with acquisition of 250 buses.
Luxuria bus service will be flagged-off on November 15 with two buses departing at 5 am and 7 am and two buses at 10 pm and 11 pm from Whitefield in Bangalore.
The first three services will culminate at Sholinganallur in Chennai and the last service departing from Bangalore will culminate at Koyambedu in Chennai.
Prabhu Ramachandran, Director of Blue Hill Group, said "Luxuria is a novel concept for travel in India. We believe that we have the first mover advantage in this category and in the next three years we plan to expand our services to other major cities in the country.
"Nilgiris Supermarket Chain was the first self-service supermarket in India and pioneered the concept of retail shopping experience in India. Luxuria we believe will be a true trend setter in travel in India. The designs of the buses are a true embodiment of style by Dilip Chhabria and will become a benchmark in travel".
The multi-axle Volvos provide high-grade leather reclining seats with electronically operated calf support.
Entertainment on board is guaranteed with individual screens for each seat -- which shows movies and music on demand plus live satellite television. The bus is Wi-Fi enabled.
Pursers on board will serve travellers with delectable food and refreshments. The bus also has an in-built toilet, refrigerator and microwave, he said.
Pankaj Rampal, COO Blue Hill Logistics P Ltd. said, "These ultra-luxury buses are targeted at air travellers. The buses are designed to give business class and first class luxury and comforts at far lower prices"

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

The Volvo buses have been designed by ace automobile designer Dilip Chhabria. With an initial investment of Rs 30 crore for 12 buses and infrastructure, it is likely to be scaled upto Rs 450 crore in the next seven years with acquisition of 250 buses.

The bus also has an in-built toilet, refrigerator and microwave, he said.

Wonderful! Its good to see the bus travel scene come of age in India. I hope they extend their services to other regions and routes as well.

Between, one didnt have to read the press rollout to realize DC had a hand in the design. The bus design screams DC! He has successfully managed to make the Volvo look ugly from the outside.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by silversteed

^^^
That's simply amazing. How was the ride quality?

Hey, anyone who's used the Kesineni Volvo from Chennai to Hyderabad? redBus says their 20:00hrs service from Walltax road reaches Hyd at 07:00hrs, while Kesineni personnel tell me that it takes a maximum of 13hours. Am I in for any surprises - pleasant or otherwise?

SRM Volvo to Trivandrum : Absolutely top class in terms of ride quality. The roads are fabulous all the way. If the bus starts at around 7 PM from Chennai am fairly sure the bus would take only 11 hours to Trivandrum. On any day I would prefer the bus to mail after this experience.

Volvo to Hyderabad: I have traveled twice by Volvo from Chennai to Hyd'bd and once from Hyd'bd to Chennai. All the time the bus took atleast 12 hours from Koyambedu to Hyderabad. Please note that the Kesineni bus does not leave before 9 PM from Koyambedu. So plan for the most ideal scenario which is a 9 AM arrival at around the these places Nampally, Lakkidikapul, Punjagutta etc. Also note that the roads are in horrible condition from the time it deviates from NH5 near Ongole and all the way upto Ibrahimpattinam. This status is as of last Tuesday. Incidentally I had used the Bharti Multi Axle, Kesineni & Dhunanjaya Multi Axle during these trips

[vnabhi]

Any reviews of the Volvo buses to Mumbai from Hyderabad? I travelled in AP Torusim's Volvo 5 years ago and it was good at that time.

Nowadays we have Kesineni's, Sree Kaleswari and others added to the list. Anybody travelled in any of those? If so what is the journey time and the fare? This apart, are the seats right behind the driver comfortable, or would you suggest better spots for maximum comfort? I do find online booking available with some providers.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Wonderful! Its good to see the bus travel scene come of age in India. I hope they extend their services to other regions and routes as well.

Although am elated to see such facilities being offered in buses, I am skeptical of its success. The price being quoted for a one-way ticket is Rs. 1800, which is far higher than a regular Volvo ticket, or even a 1A ticket in Shatabdi Express.

The Shatabdi takes all of 5 hours to travel from Bangalore to Chennai. I am sure its difficult to beat this running time using a bus - unless the driver is into flying. Lets wait and see how this service goes.

[A350XWB]

^^ Exactly my thoughts. On the Bangalore-Chennai route, it's hard to beat the Shatabdi. The service and the travel time is hard to beat, using a bus.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

^^ Exactly my thoughts. On the Bangalore-Chennai route, it's hard to beat the Shatabdi. The service and the travel time is hard to beat, using a bus.

First time I am seeing a bus starting from Whitefield (don't know anyone else operates) to Chennai. It will be easy for those residing nearby. Shatabdi is far better but getting reservation on this train is difficult sometimes.

[vishnurp99]

SRM Multiaxle Volvo is very good from chennai to TVM. THere is one which starts at around 8.30 from perungalathur. You generally reach tvm by around 7.30. If you take the 9.30 one you reach around 8.30. On this route buses are much better(even Non multiaxle) because the Ananthapuri express which is there is worse than a passenger train.

[silversteed]

Had to travel to Hyderabad. Booked tickets with Kesineni Travels thru redBus, both ways.

Boarded the bus from Walltax road at 19:45hrs. Bus was supposed to leave at 20:00hrs, but he left at 19:50hrs itself - rest of the people were boarding from Koyambedu. Reached the gate of the Omnibus stand at 20:25hrs. On seeing the long queue of buses waiting to get into their respective bays, I got down, had my dinner, and returned to the bus. Time is 21:05hrs. By the time the bus started moving (till this time it was inching), it was already 21:40hrs - 40 minutes behind schedule.
Reached Gummidipoondi at 22:40hrs. The driver took a break, in front of a small yet clean hotel (it seemed clean from the outside, i didn't get in). Another 30minutes.

At around 03:00hrs, the bus stopped somewhere in AP - in front of a fuel station. We were on NH-7 is all that I know. This time it was for replacing a rear tyre. The condition of the tyre that was replaced made me take a more careful look at all the other tyres, and the spare tyre that was now being mounted. It took me quite some time to make out the scanty tread patterns on them

The bus was not seen doing more than 90kmph during the time I was awake. Perhaps the driver did not risk doing more than that because of the rains and the condition of the tyres. Reached JNTU Hyderabad at 11:05hrs - a gruesome 14hrs+ trip.

It was a first generation B7R, with the frontage replaced with that of the latest 9400. Steering wheel and dash panel were still the old ones. I noticed two warning lamps blinking, but couldn't understand what they were for - the lettering had faded.

Seats were a far cry from comfy. The calf support needed to be pulled up manually, keeping the button depressed. And the push-back mechanism would automatically push the back even if I wanted to sit upright

The AC vents were ok. At least I could change the direction of air flow, but cannot close them or adjust the flow. Most of the underside of the luggage rack were damp and some less fortunate passengers on the window side had water dripping on their window-side armrests.

For my return trip to Chennai on the same day, it was the same bus. Luckily, there were no breakdowns this time. I boarded the bus at 20:35hrs from Kondapur. Reached Walltax road at 11:00hrs. Since I haven't travelled on this route before, I couldn't make out if it was the same route they took for going to Hyd. But I felt they'd deviated from the regular course and took some narrow roads. Since the bus crew knew only Telugu and very very less Hindi, I couldn't understand what they told me for the cause of the delay.

Summary: I'll not travel by Kesineni to Hyderabad.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Even by my experience of going to Hyderabad by bus from Chennai you have had a very bad experience. During my trip to Hyderabad by Kesineni the bus had water leaking through the luggage racks during rains. Dhunanjaya is better off at Koyambedu because they do not enter the bus stand but park at the Kamadenu petrol pump. They also come from Central so you could possibly check them out next time around.
Edit: I think the newest buses in the route belong to Bharathi & Parveen

[TKMCE]

Took Sharma Transports Non AC bus from Alwaye to Bangalore on a Sunday evening. Was promised an arrival at 0730 and it idid reach at 0730 but at Madivala(For most kerala booking agents and I guess most pax too - Bangalore= Silk Board/Madivala). My destination was the last stop and it reached Kalsipalayam at 0830 Am.

Safe driving, no heroics and no dinner break either. Tere was a short fuel halt after Trichur (bus does not enter Trichur town) Only one break around 2 AM after Coimbatore.

Not a bad option if you have a late reporting time at BLR for work since you get thw whole of Sunday at home. They have a Volvo bus at the same time which I assume reaches much earlier so that is another good option. The Non AC Bus is a 2 x 1 and they dont charge extra for the single seat so that is another plus.

It is nearly 20 years since i started travelling with these guys and while their service is nothing flashy, it is never bad either.

One tip : I did get a ticket for a sunday travel as late as firday. The website shows all full, trick is to go to one of their booking agents. In Alwaye it is Sona Travels (not Zam Zam who is down the road) Sona also is the authroised agent for Karnataka SRTC wh now have a boarding at Alwaye, but the travel agent is so clearly disinterested in promoting the Karnataka SRTC that it is better to book either at BLR or in the internet.

IF you want to get a Karnataka SRTC ticket at Trchur, there is one booking agent just outside the exit of the KSRC bus stand. Again Sunday evening tickets are surprisingly easy to get without premium . I think these guys block off the tickets in advance.