[CGB]

Saw this test mule today on NH45 with dummies fitted in seats ! Was doing good speeds

[Transsenger]

New MB 15M SHD delivered to Golden Travels, Kannur Kerala.

[Ashley2]

Simply striking in all angles.
One of the beautifully executed coaches. Hope they improved in fit and finish aspects.

[SchumiFan]

APR have purchased a couple of buses for Chennai-Bangalore route. It is a seater with 61 seats in total. Runs thrice a day like the Scania services of KPN, Parveen, Hebron.

The Chennai-Bangalore sector is now loaded to the hilt with new players coming in (Orange) and existing ones adding new buses.

Coming to this bus itself, it does look attractive from the front, but its rear is one of the least inspiring of the European trio. The wheels look puny as well compared to the size of the bus.

Might travel in it by the end of the month. So curious to see the difference between the European giants.

Volvo still tugs at the heart, Scania looks classy, Mercedes somewhere behind both.

[amitc7]

Might not be very relevant SCANIA and MAN two of the most popular truck and bus manufacturers of Europe are owned by VW group. Makes you wonder what VW does not own or have a share in.

[turbospooler]

With reference to Transsenger's post, I happen to agree with Ashley sir. That is clearly one of the best looking bus on Indian roads.
I would rate it above Scania (Number 2 in looks) and Volvo (Number 3 in looks).
If only we could have all the 3 for a comparo

[vivek95]

Well, in Maharashtra two operators currently own the new Mercedes SHD 15M multiaxle buses.

1.NEETA travels of Pune/Mumbai owns 2 buses and they are the semisleeper (with calf support) versions. I am not sure of the number of seats though. These two red hot beauties have been working Mumbai-Pune-Mahabaleshwar route past 2 months or so.

2. Mohan Travels based at Kolhapur ( the famous Ghatge Patil Transports) also owns 2 buses and has been operating them on Pune- Kolhapur-Pune route past 1.5 months or so. Each bus does three schedules from one end daily. These are in elegant white colour, seater versions and the total number of seats are 55 (2*2 configuration with 14 rows on each side, two seats are absent near the emergency exit)

Pic credits -- Kunal for Neeta and Shantanu for Mohan

[Makesh]

What is the cost of this bus?

[rohitoasis]

Parveen travels seems to have procured this bus. Could not board into this bus but had a chat with the driver about the bus.

Looks like it was procured around a month back. They cite this is around 15 Metre long when compared to the earlier Mercedes buses.They tend to avoid roads with twisties for that reason.

According to the driver, the 2 buses they have are currently running the Chennai - Hyderabad sector and a Chennai- Madurai sector??

Was allowed a few minutes inside the bus to take snaps.. Here you go.


The Fleet of Mercedes' at Koyambedu.


The face. Not a fan.


Interesting seating arrangement. Usually the seating in most of the new generation buses is slightly elevated from the floor. Seating is flush with ground in this case.


I was curious to what this component is.


If its only a month since addition to fleet, i feel bad that the seat number stickers have been plucked out and shoddily written in crayon now.

[CGB]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

Parveen travels seems to have procured this bus. Could not board into this bus but had a chat with the driver about the bus.

Looks like it was procured around a month back. They cite this is around 15 Metre long when compared to the earlier Mercedes buses.They tend to avoid roads with twisties for that reason.

According to the driver, the 2 buses they have are currently running the Chennai - Hyderabad sector and a Chennai- Madurai sector??

Madurai gets a new Benz. Travelled in it yesterday

I was curious to what this component is.

That is a AC-DC converter used to power most of the power sockets inside the bus under every seat.

If its only a month since addition to fleet, i feel bad that the seat number stickers have been plucked out and shoddily written in crayon now.

Now they replaced it with stickers all around with Benz logo

I was sitting behind Emergency exit and it was not sealed properly, It made lot of warm air to blow on our feet. Wish it was fixed soon.

[ranjithrnath]

Originally Posted by CGB

Madurai gets a new Benz. Travelled in it yesterday
I was sitting behind Emergency exit and it was not sealed properly, It made lot of warm air to blow on our feet. Wish it was fixed soon.

Any idea about the number of seats in a 15m SHD Benz coach ? IIRC the seat nos written in marker ink was 48,49. There are 49 seats on 13.7m B9Rs and Scanias and 53 on 14.5m B11Rs and Scanias. What about the 15m BENZ?

[CGB]

Originally Posted by ranjithrnath

Any idea about the number of seats in a 15m SHD Benz coach ? IIRC the seat nos written in marker ink was 48,49. There are 49 seats on 13.7m B9Rs and Scanias and 53 on 14.5m B11Rs and Scanias. What about the 15m BENZ?

It has 53 seats. Personally I feel the Scanias are put together well than the SHD Benz coach. Also, the last row of seats couldn't be reclined as much as the other seats.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by ranjithrnath

Any idea about the number of seats in a 15m SHD Benz coach ? IIRC the seat nos written in marker ink was 48,49. There are 49 seats on 13.7m B9Rs and Scanias and 53 on 14.5m B11Rs and Scanias. What about the 15m BENZ?

Daimler claims you can have upto 57 Seats in semi-sleeper configuration (52 Semi-sleeper and 5 Executive) and 61 seats in Executive configuration.

APR has 61 seats - which is terribly congested. KPN has 48 seats + Driver berth. Parveen has 53 (based on a post elsewhere). Parveen generally numbers first row as V1-V4, and the remaining by number.

[WAM-4]

I traveled in the Bharat Benz APR Travels bus from Bangalore to Chennai [6 AM] bus around 2 months ago.

The 61 seater bus is extremely congested. Also, the noise insulation is not up to the mark vis - a - vis Scania / Volvo.

The interiors feel down market and uninspiring.

Is this the case only with APR travels? Hoping that DICV buses purchased by Neeta and Parveen travels have better seating arrangement and better interiors.

I'm hoping DICV comes up with a better version of the same bus platform to take on their European competitors.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

I still feel a PTO driven cooling system could be given instead of belt driven. This should have freed up some space in saloon as well.

A PTO to drive a Ac compressor doesnt work, it has been tried before without success. A Ac compressor needs a high starting torque, and comparatively low running torque to keep it rotating. Once compressor cuts off, it needs about 2 Min for pressures on both sides to equalise. If restarted without equilising the needed torque will go up considerably.
If you see pressures on R 134a Ac system, while running the suction side is between 30 and 40 psi, while discharge side is between 180 and 250 psi. After equilising both sides have something between 90 to 120 psi depending on ambient temperature.
A PTO sources it's energy from the gearbox, whenever the engine is declutched, it stops rotating, and as soon as the clutch is engaged again it starts rotating after this momentary stop and this start loads the entire chain from compressor, drive shaft to PTO to gearbox to clutch, and finally engine.
A belt driven system sources energy from crank pulley which is rotating continuously. Even when compresser cuts off after achieving set temperature, it restarts after a minimum of 3 to 5 minutes.

Rahul