[pypkmsrikanth]

bus running without driver | ??????? ????? ???????? : ??????? ???????? ???? ????? ??? Dinamalar

Not really a review, for those who don't read Tamil the synopsis of the article, apparently due to dispute in sharing the collections, the driver of a private omni bus between Chennai & Coimbatore fought with the second driver leaving the steering wheel aside. The bus ran for about 150 mts without anyone in control.

The incident happened near Avinashi. Both the drivers were bashed up by passengers and passerby.

We have heard stories of driver leaving the bus and running away with collections during festival days, what is the next strange thing going to be

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by J.B

Hi folks,

I would appreciate if you guys could give some operators that are more consumer centric in the southern routes. For now, I guess the govt buses are much better, atleast they don't drive rash.

cheers

Here's my 2 cents based on the innumerable journeys I have undertaken in the south (mainly Blr - Chennai, Blr - Dindigul, Blr - CBE, Chennai - CBE, Chennai - Dindigul routes)

Surprised that KPN was very rash - they are normally quite sedate in their driving and their buses always take longer than many others on the routes I have travelled. ABT is usually quite good and crew are cordial. There used to be a Renganathan Travels on the Chennai - Trichy route, not sure if they still operate. I found them to be quite good too and have used them a few years back frequently to go to Dindigul. There also used to be an APS Travels, which was extremely rash and the guy would usually do Chennai - Dindigul in under 7.5-8 hours when all other buses took much longer. And this was the time when there was no 4 lane road beyond Tindivanam / Villupuram.

Conti travels are usually quite sedate too when it comes to driving as is Sharma. None of their buses I have travelled were driven very rashly.

Not sure I agree with you of TNSTC buses not being rash - I have found them to be the most careless on the roads (even if they are not the fastest) and it is not rare to see them (esp SETC) involved in accidents. I recall an incident when there was some issue with the headlight of a TNSTC bus on the Blr - Salem route and the driver got off the bus to check it, without engaging the hand brake. The bus suddenly started moving (as the and there was no driver behind the wheel. The conductor had to get off the rear door, run to the front and jump into the drivers seat to stop the bus. Heights of carelessness... And the less said about their attitude the better.

For travel from Blr, I find KaSRTC to be the most effective because of punctuality, cordial crew (usually) and well driven and maintained buses.

Hope this helps.

[J.B]

There used to be a Renganathan Travels on the Chennai -

Not sure I agree with you of TNSTC buses not being rash -.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yup, my uncle use to travel frequently by Renganathan travels and they are quite good. I was infact suggesting them to her. But, I guess they operate only very few buses these days.

Regarding TNSTC buses, ya, all of them are not good, but I use to travel mostly trichy - chennai route in TNSTC ac buses and they were quite good. SETC's have comparatively poorer service. One advantage with Govt buses is, if for some reason we get stranded, they would arrange alternatives fairly quicker than private operators.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by J.B

I would appreciate if you guys could give some operators that are more consumer centric in the southern routes. For now, I guess the govt buses are much better, atleast they don't drive rash.

cheers

Bharati travels has a Multi Axle from Chennai to Trivandrum via Nagercoil and Marthandam. Their driving is generally very safe, the crew is polite and buses are well maintained.

Also try Rathimeena Travels. They have quite a few buses mainly from Chennai via Trichy, Madurai to Tirunelveli and beyond points upto Trivandrum. Till a few years back I was a regular with these guys on the Trivandrum Chennai run and never faced any major problems. Even now , from what I understand,on the same route which has now become notorious for some operators trying to break their "speed records" on every trip, these guys do not apparently try hard to get into the honours list and hence I am assuming they still drive at sensible speeds!!!

On the topic, some internet forums (not Team BHP) are full of people claiming how their bus clocked 120/130/140 km /hr on their trips and posting comments to the effect that the faster the bus, the more superior the service.Even graphical descriptions of outright dangerous driving manouveres are posted as if these are something to be proud of! In the days before Volvo, I used to leave Trivandrum/Chennai at 3 PM and reach the other end at around 7 AM. Now on the same route multi axles are leaving as late as 8 or 9 PM. For people familiar with the route, Trivandrum to Nagercoil is a horror stretch where there has not been much changes in the road condition and if the fantstic speeds are reached, some amount of crazy driving is inevitable. I am wondering whether this pressure exerted by some travellers on the operators to go faster and faster is responsible to some extent for this dangerous driving. It is now getting to a stage where only speed seems to sell!!!

[tharian]

Originally Posted by autotranny

I don't think the sun film verdict of the Supreme Court will be applicable for buses. So they are safe for now.

Now for some nostalgia.

Can someone here give me updates about SKS travels, one of the major operators in the Calicut - Bangalore route in the early 90's. Their office [I believe its still there] was opposite to the Alakapuri Hotel in Jail road. Inside, they used to have pictures of the steam engine buses they owned earlier. I have fond memories of this place because I undertook my first ever long distance bus travel with them in 1992. Anyway, the last time I saw one of their buses was around 2007-08 near Edappal (under the name SKS Blue Bird). I believe they had extended their route from Blore-Clt to Edappal.

Are they well known in B'lore and do they have operations in other major routes ? They don't seem to have a website till date. Any idea if they have also graduated into the league of Volvos ?

This sure was nostalgia for me.

SKS travels was the only travels that my mom, sis and me used to travel to Calicut every summer holidays when I was a kid. Sometimes even during Christmas holidays. We were regulars for SKS for almost 10 years in a row.
Back then, I was so kicked about buses and trucks that I never slept the previous night just thinking of the noise and feel from high up in the seats.
At one point, they had a bus that had huge windows that your thighs could be seen from outside and it felt like your on top of the world sitting in those seats.

I could never figure out if the buses were AL or TM since most of them did not have the logo on the grille since it was all body built, and of course it was only AL. However, all their buses were built by Azad which had their workshop on Mysore road back then, before Bangalore University and I would make sure I look out for it since from the height of the bus, I could take a peep inside.

Back then, the Jail road or the adjoining road were SKS office(nxt to a BMTC bus stand) was located, was filled with night buses and most of them going to Kerala and it was a treat to watch these buses with their different designs, names and not to forget the lovely exhaust note each of them had.
I remember just hoping and praying during the day that the bus we got had a rear exhaust ending pipe which I knew for sure was music for the night for me! Some of them never had a exhaust note at all for some reason although they were AL and some had a lovely note at top rpm from the stock exhaust as well , though the one to die for was rear exhaust pipe which sounded amazing to me. Back, then passenger comfort was not considered as much as today , hence the noise and hard suspensions.

There was this one journey on the way back from Calicut , our bus had stopped just outside Gundlepet for a tea break along with other buses. Gundlepet to Nanjagud is a straight road with lots of ups and downs and back then it was a concrete road and these guys would gain good speed. During the stop, I was on the right side of the bus facing the road when another travels bus blasted past easily doing around 80-90 and it was some sight to see him do that speed and the sound of the exhaust could be heard going faint as he went farther since that was the only sound in the middle of the night.

There was competition among different 'travels' since Blore-Calicut was high density route for these guys since there was no train connectivity(now there is Yeshwantput-Mlore-Kannur train). The competition was friendly and I am sure the drivers all had an understanding on what time to reach the destination and overtake/speed accordingly. Some of the travels I can think if now was PK and Indira.

During early 90's, SKS used to leave around 830p from Kalasipalayam and reach Calicut as early as 430-5am! SKS according to me had very disciplined and safe drivers and did good speed, but not in the rough way. The drivers smoked beedi after beedi to keep themselves attentive but never have I smelt booze in the cab.

We did take PK travels once since they had a bus that had Quilandy as their last stop after Calicut and that was the first new designed bus that came after the ones which had an angled face with chrome grille and chrome bumpers. This one looked just like a bread box and the passengers sat way high up since the underbody was used for loading. They were Sutlej built buses.

I did travel in Kallada's Volvo when they introduced them on the Blore-Calicut route. Was no fun at all when compared to the old Leylands.
The new breed of air conditoned, rear engined , air suspended multi axle's can never beat the old Leylands .
I wish I could re-live those night journeys.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I am wondering whether this pressure exerted by some travellers on the operators to go faster and faster is responsible to some extent for this dangerous driving. It is now getting to a stage where only speed seems to sell!!!

Certainly, Yes. The new entrant to Kerala, Viji-Yathra (Yathra has been existing since long) is famous on one of its routes - because they are the last to leave and first to arrive - the worst fashion of rash driving. But, they are regarded as a "good" operator, solely due to speed.

Originally Posted by tharian

I did travel in Kallada's Volvo when they introduced them on the Blore-Calicut route.

Travel in Leylands is a charm in itself - especially the sound that comes from the exhaust - somewhat like tearing a piece of wood apart.

Kallada is coming back to the Bangalore-Kozhikode route, with a Multi-Axle Volvo!! They are launching Trivandrum-Kozhikode-Bangalore and Hyderabad-Bangalore-Kozhikode (both Multi-Axles) from next week.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

On the topic, some internet forums (not Team BHP) are full of people claiming how their bus clocked 120/130/140 km /hr on their trips and posting comments to the effect that the faster the bus, the more superior the service...

Recently even I came across such forums and all I had is a big .

That recalled me, when one of my friend told that he was travelling at 140km speed in his pulsar and suddenly a Volvo bus over took him.

Many of the operators starting from Rathimeena to Jeppiar, Sharma to National, VRL to SRS, locks their Volvo buses at 100kmph.
SRM initially did not have speed locks and after meeting some frequent accidents they also locked.
The primary reason for speed lock to have a better fuel mileage which becomes very less when speed increases beyond 100.
This is to the best of knowledge and experience.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Travel in Leylands is a charm in itself - especially the sound that comes from the exhaust - somewhat like tearing a piece of wood apart.

The exhilarating sound from the exhaust when those Leyland-NA-engine private buses rev up when overtaking is nomore as all are using the turbo charged engines and the sound is much muted now. In fact, it is barely audible at the back.

[autotranny]

Originally Posted by tharian

At one point, they had a bus that had huge windows that your thighs could be seen from outside and it felt like your on top of the world sitting in those seats.

Exactly ; and these windows sloped towards the roof, so if you were lucky to get the 'big' window seat all you had to do is put your seat on full recline and look up at the sky to see a full starry night as you climb the Wayanad Hair Pin bends.

Originally Posted by tharian

However, all their buses were built by Azad which had their workshop on Mysore road back then, before Bangalore University and I would make sure I look out for it since from the height of the bus, I could take a peep inside.

Oh man, I used to do the exact same thing. However deep my sleep was I would somehow wake up by that time to get a glimpse of Azad and the number of buses lined up there.

Originally Posted by tharian

I wish I could re-live those night journeys.

And to add to all this mystique and sound effects of the buses, we had the narrow roads; not the expansive highways that we see today. Anyone who has traveled the Wayanadan high range in late 80s and early 90s would recall how narrow the road was, with mountain springs flowing through it in rainy season, filled with rare mountain flowers. It was a sight to behold. The best trips in this route, however, used to be in our good old KSRTC buses. Hmm.. those were the times.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Travel in Leylands is a charm in itself - especially the sound that comes from the exhaust - somewhat like tearing a piece of wood apart.

Kallada is coming back to the Bangalore-Kozhikode route, with a Multi-Axle Volvo!! They are launching Trivandrum-Kozhikode-Bangalore and Hyderabad-Bangalore-Kozhikode (both Multi-Axles) from next week.

That was a very nice way to describe the exhaust note.

Won't the multi-axle's have a tough time negotiating the ghats? If I remember, although the roads have widened, there were some Hair pin turns which were quite steep.

Originally Posted by autotranny

And to add to all this mystique and sound effects of the buses, we had the narrow roads; not the expansive highways that we see today. Anyone who has traveled the Wayanadan high range in late 80s and early 90s would recall how narrow the road was, with mountain springs flowing through it in rainy season, filled with rare mountain flowers. It was a sight to behold. The best trips in this route, however, used to be in our good old KSRTC buses. Hmm.. those were the times.

I have never had a chance to travel long trips by KSRTC. But there was this once instance when our SKS was stuck in a jam in the Wynad ghats climbing and probably a couple of feet right beside us was a local jam packed KeSRTC bus going down.
Malayalees are always good in passing smart comments and here I was relaxing in my reclined seat with the curtains pushed to the side and right next to me was a bus load of lungi cladded sweaty passengers looking into our bus which had dim night lights and TV with a movie running . I dont remember the comment , although I remember it was not a sweet one.

Very true of the starry night . That was the only time back then I could see the full night sky and the stars, as in a city that is not possible. And not to forget the headlamp beams of vehicles going all over the place on the ghats! Like multiple flash lights on the side of the mountain.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Certainly, Yes. The new entrant to Kerala, Viji-Yathra (Yathra has been existing since long) is famous on one of its routes - .

A couple of questions,

1 Are both Yatra and Viji Yatra two different entitites and do BOTH operate services even now or is it that Viji is the new incarnation of the old Yatra??? At Aluva for instance, neither of the travel agents who monopolise the scene seemed to promote Yatra at all earlier, but one of them (Sona) seems to be one of the main selling agents of the new Viji Service - many times their website shows block of 20 or more seats.If the original "Yatra" still operate , do they have Volvos and do they operate to Aluva or Ernakulam???

2 This may sound a very silly question to most of you at Bangalore, but surprise surprise despite quite a few years now at Bangalore I am not familiar with Madiwala since my only acquaintance with the mini metropolis in question is when passing by on the way to/from Majestic/Kpalayam But if for some reason I have to pick up a bus from Madiwala insted and I decide to try agent hopping (since nowadays my trips are all at the last minute), is there any particular area in Madiwala where all the booking agents are located (like in Kalasipalayam where everything is concentrated in one road!)? Any landmark , directions will be gratefully acknowledged. The last few times I tried my luck at Kalasipalayam (and these are generally not on Fridays as I know it is a waste of time) , except for Sharma,Bharati, and Conti (to Kovai), most people are not even bothered to check whether seats are available or if there are last minuite cancellations on their website (Kallada office there was useless and unbelievably and uniformly rude everytime I was there!). Also any BMTC Volvos which go from Majestic to this area in Madivala?KPN was a good option for me earlier when their buses started from Kalasipalayam but now they start from Wilson Garden where no one else starts! So now Madivala seems to be the one place where everyone passess through - hence my request.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

A couple of questions,
is there any particular area in Madiwala where all the booking agents are located (like in Kalasipalayam where everything is concentrated in one road!)?

The area near Maruthinagar main road- Opposite to the St johns cricket ground, on Hosur road. there are lot of travel agents located there.In fact most of them are located around the same building. you could take any bus from Majestic towards Ecity/Sarjapura (nos: 340 series, 350 series) and get down at St. Johns bus top and walk around 300 meters to this point. I m not sure whether there are direct buses to this place. One landmark would be Enzen global IT solutions building.

here are the maps and satellite imagery:
\
Circled area is the area we are talking about..

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

1 Are both Yatra and Viji Yatra two different entitites and do BOTH operate services even now or is it that Viji is the new incarnation of the old Yatra??? At Aluva for instance, neither of the travel agents who monopolise the scene seemed to promote Yatra at all earlier, but one of them (Sona) seems to be one of the main selling agents of the new Viji Service - many times their website shows block of 20 or more seats.If the original "Yatra" still operate , do they have Volvos and do they operate to Aluva or Ernakulam???

Technically, Yathra and Viji are different entities. Yathra was supported by the SNDP Trust, Kollam. Yathra still operates one service (not sure which route it is on). Viji is a cab operator in Bangalore - they've leased out buses to companies as well as some private bus operators like Sangita. Viji-Yathra is a tie-up between Viji and Yathra - Viji own the buses and Yathra operate them. This is one reason why most of Viji-Yathra drivers are malayalees!

The "original" Yathra has only one non-Ac service to Kerala. The Volvos are operated in the Viji-Yathra brand.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

2 This may sound a very silly question to most of you at Bangalore, but surprise surprise despite quite a few years now at Bangalore I am not familiar with Madiwala since my only acquaintance with the mini metropolis in question is when passing by on the way to/from Majestic/Kpalayam But if for some reason I have to pick up a bus from Madiwala insted and I decide to try agent hopping (since nowadays my trips are all at the last minute), is there any particular area in Madiwala where all the booking agents are located (like in Kalasipalayam where everything is concentrated in one road!)? Any landmark , directions will be gratefully acknowledged. The last few times I tried my luck at Kalasipalayam (and these are generally not on Fridays as I know it is a waste of time) , except for Sharma,Bharati, and Conti (to Kovai), most people are not even bothered to check whether seats are available or if there are last minuite cancellations on their website (Kallada office there was useless and unbelievably and uniformly rude everytime I was there!). Also any BMTC Volvos which go from Majestic to this area in Madivala?KPN was a good option for me earlier when their buses started from Kalasipalayam but now they start from Wilson Garden where no one else starts! So now Madivala seems to be the one place where everyone passess through - hence my request.

The stretch of road from St.Johns Hospital to Madiwala Ayyappa temple has only travel agents on both sides of the road! These days, buses on every route have a pick-up at Madiwala (even KeSRTC/KaSRTC have pick-up points). Some operators start from Madiwala itself, instead of going to Kalasipalayam.

There is a bus every minute or so from Majestic to Madiwala - there is a Volvo every 2-3 minutes. Volvo buses on route numbers 342F, 356, 356C, 356N, 356P, 360B and D25 (buses heading to Depot-25) would drop you St. John's Hospital. You need to walk about 100metres from there to reach the travel agencies - the first one is Kallada (Suresh Kallada).

Landmarks: The bus would run past Forum Mall, and reach a traffic signal. After the traffic signal, the bus would run past a Fuel station and then immediately take a left. The St. John's hospital bus stop is just after the left turn. After getting off the bus, you need to walk towards the fuel station, and then walk towards teh left - its a wide road with a huge wall on the left side. About 100 metres into the road, you'd see travel agencies on the right side.

This map will help you. The bus would come from Forum side, and then stop outside St. John's hospital. The place marked as "SRM Transport" is where most travel agents are located.

[TKMCE]

Thanks sandsun7 and Binai. Exactly the information which I wanted.
Also generally what are the chances of getting a seat at the last minute on Saturdays???

Incidentally one of my frends booked through the Bharathi Travels website yesterday. The web booking interface worked smoothly and he got the conifrmation SMS with the booking/seat details and an email with the invoice for the payment as soon as the booking was made. No need to go through Redbus for this operator especially for trips originating fron Bangalore - but from Kerala it is another story as some of their seats are blocked (quota seats) with agents and some of the agents themselves have their own website where the quota seats can be picked up online. Catch is that sometimes the agent markup can be very steep! All said and done , the private bus travel market has matured very fast!!!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Also generally what are the chances of getting a seat at the last minute on Saturdays???

Depends a lot on luck. During summer months, last minute tickets are impossible. Getting a ticket on Saturday would not be a big problem during non-vacation months. "Premium" operators would be unavailable, while some operators like Shama would have tickets. KPN's Ernakulam Volvo would be available usually - since that bus leaves Bangalore pretty late and arrives Ernakulam only around 8AM.

Kallada's Kodungallur Volvo (10.30pm from Madiwala) might also have tickets. This would arrive Thrissur around 7AM.