[TKMCE]

binoy

The lower rate you got in Karnataka SRTC is indeed due to off season. This is good reveneue management and nothing else and they are very open and transparent about it (peak and off season pricing). To the best of my knowledge they have been doing this for the last few years and and at one point they also had higher pricing on weekends (not sure about it now). This year Kerala SRTC also increased the fares in peak season (I understand in the latest inter state transport agreement Karnataka insisted on this).

Why do I like this??? 1 There is nothing wrong in good revenue management - off peak sometimes buses go half empty. 2 Private operators do the same but it is more like "whatever I feel like charging or whatever market can bear" basis).3 We pay "peak time" for anything from movie tickets to hotel accomodation , so nothing wroing in transport as well.


Also if you book your return ticket at the same time as the onward travel and on the same type of service, you get a 10% discount on the return part of the fare. Not a bad deal.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by prmd_cochin

KeSRTC is fine, but dont you lose a lot of time as it enters and exits all the bus stations enroute, also what happens if you are lucky to have a puncture !!!

I had once a horrible experiance with KSRTC.

I studied in a college on the outskirts of Calicut, 14 kms to Mukkam side. My home is at Muvattupuzha- To my surprise I found that there is one bus connecting chathamangalam and Muvattupuzha. And one more amazing thing was it is the last bus which passes in front of our college. After sometime i became a regular on this bus.

Anyway one day that bus got a puncture en route somewhere near Edappal or so and they cancelled the trip. They put me on a calicut bus and then asked me to find out some route to chathmangalam. The station master at calicut told I could wait till next day morning when they start their local services.

Well ended up walking the whole 14 kms.

Lesson learnt .. never trust KSRTC that much.

Incidentally this was the same bus that was robbed at gunpoint 10-15 years back. THe bus route is mulamattam- Koompara , I used to call it the "pattikad - pattikad" service, like the town-town service.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

The lower rate you got in Karnataka SRTC is indeed due to off season. This is good reveneue management and nothing else and they are very open and transparent about it (peak and off season pricing). To the best of my knowledge they have been doing this for the last few years and and at one point they also had higher pricing on weekends (not sure about it now).

KSRTC (Karnataka) also charges more for night services than for day services. I like the way they "adopt" their fares to the market scenario. Really nice revenue management.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

This year Kerala SRTC also increased the fares in peak season (I understand in the latest inter state transport agreement Karnataka insisted on this).

Not only that the inter-state transport agreement between Kerala and Karnataka insisted on the different fares for peak and off-peak seasons, the Kerala Government notification, G. O. (P) No. 25/2009/Tran. issued on 12th February 2009, allows KSRTC (Kerala) to vary fares by upto 15% depending on season.

The order states that KSRTC could lower fares by as much as 15% during off-peak seasons (Feb/Mar/June/July/Oct) in interstate services for Super Express and Higher classes. During Peak seasons, they could hike fares by a maximum of 10%. (No wonder that KSRTC is increasingly converting all their interstate Super-fast buses to Super-Express!).

Originally Posted by Jomz

Anyway one day that bus got a puncture en route somewhere near Edappal or so and they cancelled the trip. They put me on a calicut bus and then asked me to find out some route to chathmangalam. The station master at calicut told I could wait till next day morning when they start their local services.

Well ended up walking the whole 14 kms.

Lesson learnt .. never trust KSRTC that much.

Had that been a private operator, you would have been refunded money on the spot, and then you are free to find out a way to reach Kozhikode on your own! In fact, a breakdown (Especially a puncture) could occur to any vehicle on the road, and does that make any operator unreliable?

You should instead be thankful to the fact that KSRTC could accomodate you in a different bus, that could atleast let you reach 14kms short of your destination.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by Jomz

I used to call it the "pattikad - pattikad" service, like the town-town service.

OT : On a lighter note, you went to the same pattikad for your education ?

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by binaiks

You should instead be thankful to the fact that KSRTC could accomodate you in a different bus, that could atleast let you reach 14kms short of your destination.

Hmm had it been a private operator, They might have had a spare tyre. KSRTC didn't

Let me make it clear , KSRTC told me that they'll drop till college but only after spending the night in Calicut bus station.

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

OT : On a lighter note, you went to the same pattikad for your education ?

Rijukutta..........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[TKMCE]

Some good news for people commuting between Trivandrum and Trichur and Calicut.

Thanks to the new MoS of railways from Kerala, Janshatabdi running between Trivandrum and Ernakulam is now extended to Calicut.

Departs Trivandrum at 0600 Quilon at 0700 Alleppy at 0815 Ernakulam at 0920 Trichur at 1030 and reaches Calicut at 1305 (also stops at Varkala, Kayankulam, Shoranur and Tirur). 8 stops and 7 hours is not bad compared to Parasurams' 9 hours and 26 stops!!!

Return from Calicut is at 1335 Trichur at 1550 , Ernakulam at 1735 Allpeey at 1820 , Quilon at 1940 and Trivandrum at 2055.

[TKMCE]

Some good news for people commuting between Trivandrum and Trichur and Calicut.

Thanks to the new MoS of railways from Kerala, Janshatabdi running between Trivandrum and Ernakulam is now extended to Calicut.

Departs Trivandrum at 0600 Quilon at 0700 Alleppy at 0815 Ernakulam at 0920 Trichur at 1030 and reaches Calicut at 1305 (also stops at Varkala, Kayankulam, Shoranur and Tirur). 8 stops and 7 hours is not bad compared to Parasurams' 9 hours and 26 stops!!!

Return from Calicut is at 1335 Trichur at 1550 , Ernakulam at 1735 Allpeey at 1820 , Quilon at 1940 and Trivandrum at 2055.

[benbsb29]

While i was in Hyderabad over the last weekend, i noticed that almost all inter-state APSRTC buses had extra fog lamps installed, in addition to the stock lights. It was like 5 sources of lighting, and was pretty much the same across most of the buses.

Is this legal? Imagine facing up to these monsters from the opposite direction with you being blitzed with the onslaught of light blinding you.

[coolclouds]

I'm a regular traveler between Bangalore/Kochi and other cities for past few years.

I tried most of the services and find some of them are more serious on carrying luggage (huge parcel to flowers) than being punctual.

I had very bad experiences with Suresh Kallada buses as they never started on time/issued the same seat to another passenger etc etc.

[greenhorn]

its seems very few of these buses are insured, or even registered properly. God forbid if you get in an accident with them

[coolclouds]

Some operator has their buses with similar numbers and heard from a driver long back that they even operated with other buses registration plate/tax certificate may times as the tax was not paid !!!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I had very bad experiences with Suresh Kallada buses as they never started on time/issued the same seat to another passenger etc etc.

Happened to me once on a Kallada non-A/C sleeper bus - I dont remember which Kallada group it belonged to. Since the bus was not full, they started late, taking in as many passengers as they could manage to find from Madiwala, and then even stopped in Hosur for an hour or so to pick up more passengers! Finally i went and argued with the conductor and was joined by some other passengers as well, before they finally started moving.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Happened to me once on a Kallada non-A/C sleeper bus - I dont remember which Kallada group it belonged to. Since the bus was not full, they started late, taking in as many passengers as they could manage to find from Madiwala, and then even stopped in Hosur for an hour or so to pick up more passengers! Finally i went and argued with the conductor and was joined by some other passengers as well, before they finally started moving.

Punctuality is an unheard of word among private operators - unless its a Friday or a day preceeding a holiday.

In May this year, I had to travel from Bangalore to Alappuzha. My choice always is a KSRTC (Kerala), and I had booked by the 1700 hrs Trivandrum Volvo. The bus had just about 10 passengers when I boarded the bus. With just those 10 passengers, the bus started from Majestic (Exactly on time). By the time we reached Electronic City, there were a total of 15 passengers in the bus. At Hosur, we pick up one more passenger. Thats it! I am sure KSRTC would have even made enough money to cover the fuel expenses, forget crew expenses. KeSRTC guys are of the opinion that Mysore route is more profitable than Hosur route. The reason according to them is that, on the Mysore route, they get more sectional passengers - those traveling Bangalore-Mysore/Mysore-Kozhikode and so on. On the other hand, they don't get passengers within Tamil Nadu (Since TNSTC is much cheaper than KSRTC).

[coolclouds]

Most SRTC buses are punctual on their time and don't rash drive but what I feel uncomfortable is that they go to bus stands and board people when you sleep on an overnight journey.

Many private buses start late and reach early by taking bye passes and known for rash driving. There are very few operators who care about their customers and expect them to travel again.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Happened to me once on a Kallada non-A/C sleeper bus - I dont remember which Kallada group it belonged to. Since the bus was not full, they started late, taking in as many passengers as they could manage to find from Madiwala, and then even stopped in Hosur for an hour or so to pick up more passengers! Finally i went and argued with the conductor and was joined by some other passengers as well, before they finally started moving.

Even stopped in Hosur!!! Hosur is a checkpoint for Suresh kallada buses.

The guy at madwala calls and tells the guy in hosur that this many seats are issued. The guy at Hosur gets in and counts that only that many seats are occupied. This makes sure that the driver cannot pick up extra people.

Again the guy at Hosur makes sure that the driver does not cheat on diesel-everybody fills up in TN because of cheaper gas -the guy in Hosur makes sure that all the gas goes in the tank. He accompanies the bus to the HP bunk after Hosur to do this.

Kallada buses are loaded with flowers only at Hosur.

I'm not suprised that something moght have gone wrong in all these and he held the bus.

Hosur is a bus stop too. I usually book tickets from Hosur kallada and get on from there. Beats going to madiwala and riding though the block.

Benny, sometimes it might me be me whom the stopped the bus for. He being a good friend he holds the bus for 15-20 minutes, if in case I was late.