[Tejas Ingle]

Hi everyone.
Bethlehem Transports has launched this service in May 2012, and it was a first of its kind in south. Bethlehem has employed Mercedes-Benz 3-axle buses for this facility.
Here's the link: Gallery - Bethlehem Transports

I have traveled in one of these buses and found it to be extremely comfortable. The lumbar support provided by the seat is much better than Volvo (not comparing to Bliss as I haven't traveled in it). The suspension was very good and the body did not sway. I simply loved the interiors of the bus.

Now here's some information I have got from a very reliable source. Some people managed to sneak into one of these buses just before they were launched by Bethlehem. They studied the construction of the bus, took measurements and left. The stuff in KSRTC Bliss is a copy paste job from the Mercedes-Benz.

Bethlehem is providing facilities like chemical toilet, Individual entertainment touch screen with andriod based applications, movies, surfing, games, snacks etc. It is running 2 buses in 5 cities -- Tiruvanandapuram, Marthandam, Nagercoil, Tiruneveli and Chennai (dont know the exact route though).

[wildsdi5530]

Thanks for the info Ashley and audioholic. I guess I'll drive myself for short trips henceforth.

[Seek]

I travelled on the airavat bliss service last weekend from bangalore to chennai. Features hardly mean anything when they don't work! the onboard TVs have all the channels you can expect but it wasnt working, same for the wi-fi.

anyways, a step in the right direction especially considering the price it is offered at.

To clarify a question earlier, the journey time was 5hr 45 min from Ecity to Koyembedu.

[cnaganathan]

Guys,

I travel every Friday evening to Chennai by the 1700 Airavat from ShantiNagar terminus. This bus became the 1705 Airavat Bliss a month ago. I have now made 3 trips by this bus and have shared my experience from each one of them - you can find them here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...l-reviews.html.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Regarding the toilet, since the term itself is "Emergency Toilet", I hope the bus will stop for regular breaks like any other service.

@Coolclouds - the regular break at Shoolagiri HP pump when this service was a normal Airavat is gone now. It is now non stop service to Chennai.

Originally Posted by download2live

But thumbs up to KSRTC for introducing these features for just Rs 50 extra. Way to go.

No the fare diff on Chennai sector is almost 130/-

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

I think in one of the pictures i saw a person in a "purple" uniform and i assumed he was the attender. In KSRTC "conductor" is a white collared job and i dont think the union will agree for the conductor to double up as an attender. The idea is excellent, as it would save costs in salaries and one seat (attender would need a seat). Maybe they can do this - Driver doubles up as a conductor and they have just an attender.
In General the Wi-Fi at airports, malls, buses et all are slow, but they do the trick for most.

Chennai service has a separate attender - poor guy stands next to the loo (thats where the food is stocked in deep freezers and heated using a microwave) for the entire duration of the journey!!

4 weeks since launch and I haven't been able to use the Wi-Fi. It worked during one of the trips only and then too I couldn't connect

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

Guys,
@Coolclouds - the regular break at Shoolagiri HP pump when this service was a normal Airavat is gone now. It is now non stop service to Chennai.

Chennai service has a separate attender - poor guy stands next to the loo (thats where the food is stocked in deep freezers and heated using a microwave) for the entire duration of the journey!!

4 weeks since launch and I haven't been able to use the Wi-Fi. It worked during one of the trips only and then too I couldn't connect

Thank god it is a non-stop trip. I was really dreaming about this.
The attender stands for 7 hours . Hats off to him. Labout unions will oppose this for sure in the long run.

Do we need to pay separately for food or is food included in the bus fare?

[saijayam]

At Shanthi Nagar Bus stand. Booked tickets for Bliss 0635 Bangalore-Chennai bus. Turns out some issues (they are fixing TV!!) and we have got Normal Volvo!! Bugged. The folks in the bus stand and conductor happily state we will refund the excess Rs.50. Frustrating these guys don't care about customer service.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by saijayam

At Shanthi Nagar Bus stand. Booked tickets for Bliss 0635 Bangalore-Chennai bus. Turns out some issues (they are fixing TV!!) and we have got Normal Volvo!! Bugged. The folks in the bus stand and conductor happily state we will refund the excess Rs.50. Frustrating these guys don't care about customer service.

Mate, you are griping for having got a Airavat instead of Bliss, Once when I travelled from SBC to MAA, I had booked in the Ambaari sleeper and we were shocked to see a Airavat Volvo B7R Mk. 1 turning up and that too 2 full hours late as a replacement bus. But since it was a replacement for Ambaari and we were only 32 passengers. Most of us had two full seats to enjoy. Poor driver got lots of scoldings from many Pax. He finally gave back about 250 INR per head as refund.

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Thank god it is a non-stop trip. I was really dreaming about this. The attender stands for 7 hours . Hats off to him. Labout unions will oppose this for sure in the long run.

Bliss and Superia driving non-stop for 6-7 hours imho is a recipe for disaster! Does KaSRTC realise that it is seriously compromising on safety by asking the driver to drive non-stop for 7 hours? Do they know something called as "Driver Fatigue"? Driver is a human too, he needs to eat/use washroom. How can they expect him to drive non-stop 6-7horus?

[cnaganathan]

Originally Posted by saijayam

At Shanthi Nagar Bus stand. Booked tickets for Bliss 0635 Bangalore-Chennai bus. Turns out some issues (they are fixing TV!!) and we have got Normal Volvo!! Bugged. The folks in the bus stand and conductor happily state we will refund the excess Rs.50. Frustrating these guys don't care about customer service.

50bucks refund for difference in fare? they took you for a ride!! The Airavat used to cost me Rs.513 on the internet while the bliss costs me Rs.669 - that is a whole 156 bucks!!

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Thank god it is a non-stop trip. I was really dreaming about this.

Do we need to pay separately for food or is food included in the bus fare?

Travel for 7 hrs non-stop in that bus and you will realize that it was not a so good dream!

And Yes sir. you need to pay for the food separately. A small Roti and two scoops of Jeera rice with a scoop each of a subji and Dhal and 4-5 pcs of cut fruits is priced at Rs.125. And on my maiden trip I ended up with food infection. So the past two weeks, I picked up Sandwich from the stall on PF2 at Shantinagar terminus.

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Bliss and Superia driving non-stop for 6-7 hours imho is a recipe for disaster! Does KaSRTC realise that it is seriously compromising on safety by asking the driver to drive non-stop for 7 hours? Do they know something called as "Driver Fatigue"? Driver is a human too, he needs to eat/use washroom. How can they expect him to drive non-stop 6-7horus?

And that is what I am always worried about. Since I travel in the first row always, I have noticed that the bliss driver always starts yawning after he crosses Vellore. Hope the trip always remains safe.

[Marlon]

I traveled by Superia yesterday night from Blore to Chennai. Was never comfortable in the seats. They are narrow and the leg space is comparatively less.( I am 5' 10" ). If u are seated in the window seat and want to get down then u need to wake up 3 people( couple of persons before your seat and the person seated next to you). Seats are so inclined and leg space is very less. Bus stopped at some place around 3 am for around 10-15 mins. I was not able to get down because of this reason.

The TV and the Toilet will not be useful for a short night journey.
Only advantage was punctuality and time taken from KR Puram to Koyembedu was 5.30 hrs.

I will never take this bus again. May be it is good for women and children, surely not for me.

[coriollis]

Guys,
Does anybody have any idea about the Bliss/ Superia / Px services to be started to BOM, PNQ and HYD from BLR
Or is it still in its trial phase?

Cheers,
Abhijeet

[ku69rd]

Hi All,
KSRTC is all ears now for their bliss service. People who are interested to pour in their woes, brickbats or Bouquets can do so.

http://www.surveycrest.com/survey/50cde0143dc69

This was advertised on their facebook page. If they are half serious in working positively then we will have a even better transport corporation.

[cnaganathan]

I did Bangy - Chennai by the 1705 Bliss service after almost a month and a half on Friday (14th Dec) and it turned out to be my worst trip so far in the past 8 months of shuttling between the 2 cities.

1. There was a new driver and he did not switch on the A/C till 5 mins before start.
2. The bus started almost 15 minutes late - at 1720 only.
3. Thank god it doesn't ply through BTM Layout any more. Crew said that it was because of the trouble the drivers had negotiating the left turn from Bannerghatta road at Jayadeva.
4. Though the driver was a man in his late 40s, he seemed to be a rookie on this sector. After the Bommanahalli signal he stayed on the left most lane and wasted close to 30 mins at Hosa Road signal in one of the worst traffic chaos that I have seen in recent times. As a result we crossed Hosur 7.15 PM - that's 2 hrs for 38kms
5. The bus finally reached Poonamallee (Chennai outskirts) around 12.10 AM - almost after 7 hrs. This was when the driver not being so familiar to the route showed up. There is a U-Turn just after crossing the Chennai Bye pass bridge at Maduravoyal. Past midnight, long haulers headed for the Hyundai factory are allowed a U-turn at this spot. Drivers familiar with this route will always stick to the right most lane since these long haulers occupy the middle and left lane. Our pal got into the left lane and patiently(!) tailed one of them for almost 15 minutes till it managed to make its U-turn. Further down the road with hardly 100 mts to go to reach Rohini Theatre, he stays on the left lane again only to be blocked by some of these trucks which were loaded and were waiting to head to the Harbor. Again 10-15 mins were lost and then he drives on the wrong side of the road all the way upto the signal where you turn off towards the market and the bus stand.

To worsen this experience I had a heavy set guy seated next to me and squeezing me against the corner despite the arm rest. And not just that the lady seated in front of me would keep alternating between upright and full recline positions every 15-20 minutes!!!

End of the journey I promised two resolutions to myself.
1. Try out the 1700 Sharma service next time
2. Never to travel in any seat other than my favorite 1st row seats.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

End of the journey I promised two resolutions to myself.
1. Try out the 1700 Sharma service next time
2. Never to travel in any seat other than my favorite 1st row seats.

1700hrs Sharma? Did you mean Shama Sardar by any chance? I do not see any bus at 1700hrs from Sharma on the website.

[Marlon]

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

End of the journey I promised two resolutions to myself.
1. Try out the 1700 Sharma service next time
2. Never to travel in any seat other than my favorite 1st row seats.

Try 4.00 pm( from Madiwala) bus by Greenline. Its a 2 x 1 seater with comfortable seats.

[cnaganathan]

Originally Posted by binaiks

1700hrs Sharma? Did you mean Shama Sardar by any chance? I do not see any bus at 1700hrs from Sharma on the website.

I stand corrected it is Shama Sardar and not Sharma. Thanks @binaiks.