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I think the roads have become better and the running time of the buses are coming down.
I wonder what would be the running time of Volvos from Vijayawada.

+1 to this. I guess it is a huge racket going behind the scenes to keep these buses the way they are. I was told that several of the private buses are owned by politicians (under lease kind / benami / ..) who benefit. One way to keep the demand high is to keep the long distance buses as rattle traps forcing public into private bus fleecing.

Calling it fleecing as, from the rates I see at Bangalore, the cost of private bus travel (to Chennai) for two, almost becomes cost of petrol when if the trip is on car(yes, petrol!).

(Its a long time since I traveled in private buses, but from what I could see, the rates are almost almost 50% higher than SETC fares).

Sorry to go a bit off topic:OT !

I will be travelling Chennai-Coimbatore next week and want to preferably take a sleeper that passes through guindy or perungulatur.Any suggestions?:thumbs up

+1. But i really doubt whether this will happen and it is tough to bring back those golden days. But something is happening now. SETC is provided with new UD buses and they will be receiving some more in next lot. Maintenance wise, still a lot to improve. They are going to setup new depots and recruitment is going on technical staffs and driver, conductors etc.., In last few years, TN govt didnt recruit technical staffs for their STUs. This became a big problem and withing two years or so all new buses started becoming too old.

Route no is 184 for Sencottah-Chennai. Sencottah is one depot which regularly maintains their buses compared to other depots of SETC. Worst depots are in Chennai, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Pondy etc..,

KPN has two AC sleeper buses running via Perungalathur. One starts at 8.00 PM and the other starts at 10.15 PM.

Kallada G4 Bangalore – Changanacherry (KA-01-AA-7724) Bus from Madiwala to Thrissur on 14th Aug, 2012
Travelled from Bangalore to Thrissur on Kallada G4’s Blore-Changanacherry Bus (KA-01-AA-7724) on the 14th Aug, 2012. Scheduled departure time from Madiwala was mentioned as 2130hrs, but the bus came in late at 2150hrs. Was travelling home after two months and was happy to see some welcome changes with the bus and staff. The bus was in mint condition with clean interiors and blankets. The drivers were dressed in White & White uniform, Cap & ID Cards as well. The Cleaner was also in uniform. Both the drivers were from the now defunct Non-A/C service and greeted passengers as they boarded the bus. Some of them who had difficulty in locating the seats were promptly assisted. The luggage was loaded in quick time, tickets checked and and left at 2210hrs. We were joined by two owners of G4 in this trip (Sajeev Kallada & Santhosh Kallada), if I am not wrong, who were in B’lore for receiving the new buses. Some good old Malayalam Melodies were played till the bus took off from Madiwala. Soon after the bus left, a Malayalam Movie was played with the volume set to comfortable listen range. The 2nd LCD screen was not open for some time, but the owners took a note of the same and the second driver came and opened it immediately. Good to see the owners taking a note of such minute things and rectifying them. Found these steps good at a time when the services are getting expanded and it’s too easy to lose focus.
The driving was sedate with no heroic maneuvers, no excessive honking, no rash braking etc. Slept comfortable for a good portion of the journey. Maintained constant speed throughout the journey. Woke up after reaching Chavadi as the road condition till Walayar was pathetic. Stopped at Walayar for 5-10 Mins as a RTO & Bio Break. No Major Traffic block at Walayar on that day. The first driver was still at wheels. As we were approaching Chandranagar by-pass, the Cleaner came and called the passengers, who were supposed to get down, rather than shouting from his seat. The lights were switched on only after the bus stopped. This is a Welcome change as many of the forum members had pointed this out in their reviews. Was happy to see this approach and glad that the management took the feedback seriously and acted on in promptly. Good going.
The first driver also got down at Palakkad, and the Second guy took charge from here. Bus took Palakkad – Ottapalam route to Thrissur to avoid the chaos at Kuthiran. The second driver was also sedate in driving and was dropped at Thrissur at 0545hrs. A 45 minutes delay as we started late from Bangalore and lost some time at Chavadi-Walayar Stretch due to bad roads. The journey took 7hrs and 40 Minutes, which is not bad.
Ratings
Cleanliness : 5/5
Punctuality : 4.5/5
Staff Behavior : 5/5
Feedback Addresal : 5/5
Overall : 4.5/5

Any heads up about the multi axle merc that the kesrtc was supposed to roll out during onam ?

Was just now speaking to a B9R driver on the Bangalore Mangalore route. He was mentioning about two B11Rs to be launched on the same route from September. It seems all these models have the same FE ( around 2.5kpl).

Except the reported who wrote the story no one else seems to know about those buses (that includes the higher ups in KeSRTC)!! It was most probably a wish or the writer's imagination.

Sharing my experience on the Olivea.

First trip was on 5th Aug from Bangalore to Hyderabad: Was told to report at 9pm for the bus leaving at 9.30pm. Called their office and checked if the bus goes through Hebbal, i can board it from there, rather than going all the way to Koramangala pickup point and getting back on the same route, The gentle man who anwered my call politely told me that they dont take any pickup from other than their koramangala pickup point. Well, i had been hearing a lot of hype over the quality of bus and their professionalism. So left early from Hebbal (Where i stay) all the way to Koramangala (almost an hour and a half drive from my place) and reached the office by 8.50pm, and i was surprised to see the bus already there. I went in, and confirmed my presence in lounge and i was asked to be seated till they call for boarding. The place was quite good with clean toilets compared to other private travels office and also offered free wi-fi for waiting passengers. I was happy with all this till i boarded the bus.

The bus was to leave at 9.30pm, it was 9.40pm and i inquired with the staff, they said it will be ready soon. I dont know what was taking them so long, atlast boarding happened at 10pm and bus left at 10.10pm, 40 mins late.

I was given a seat on the 2nd row, i was taken aback on the condition of seats, They were Beige in colour which was turning Brown and nobody has bothered to clean them or maintain them. Well the first impression itself was bad. However the good part was the awesome legroom and wide seats, which were comfortable. The bus started moving and there it is, every part of the bus was rattling and sounds from here and there, showing the capable DC design qualities. Next the entertainment screens were open but nothing coming in them. I checked with the attender, and he said " Sir, we are working on it, should be ON soon". He kept trying and atlast after 1hr, it was informed that none of the entertainment kit is working.

I had some important mail to send and asked the attender for the Wi-fi connection, and he informs its ON and you may use it. But when i connected to the Wi-fi, it did not have connectivity and the attender had no clue on it. He says, it does not work most of the time, Great !!

Then the food was served, it was cold and stale, nothing worth eating. Overall it was an average experience. Only plus points to be space and no stops at local joints.

Its just a normal bus with loads of space, average cleanliness, stinking toilet on-board. Never expect any premium treatment.

What time did he reach Hyderabad and which place were you dropped at Hyderabad.

Last stop at Lakdi ka pul, reached at 6AM

Chengannur -BLR , SPS B9R.
Went to my hometown for an urgent matter and needs to return back on the same day (25th Aug). Checked with the local agent and came to know that SPS started their B9R service in the BLR-Adoor route. Thought of trying this. Bus came at exact 5PM and then the fun starts.Roads were crowded and I think all the mallus were out on the raod with their vehicles for Onam purchase. It took 45 min to reach Thiruvalla. On a normal day , it takes max 20mins. I was very tired and started sleeping. Got up again when the bus reached kottayam. It was 8.30PM, already late by 2.30hrs. Bus looks new and clean. There was only one driver and was driving sedately. Stopped after Angamaly for dinner around 10.15PM. Bus took the Pala route from kottayam and reached electronics city by 7.45 AM. Overall a good journey.

They are now running low floor Volvo city bus as a temporary replacement for one of the B7R's in Trivandrum- Bangalore route. I think this is the roll out for Onam lol:

Did Bangalore-Ernakulam in KPN A/c Sleeper (KA 51 A 7282). It was scheduled to leave Madiwala at 8.45. Bus arrived at 9 and left at 9.15, went through Madiwala market road and entered elevated toll road at 9.25.

Attibelle : 10:00pm
Shoolagiri HP (Dinner) : 10:55pm - 11:25
KPN bunk, Salem: 2:35am - 2:55
Tiruppur: 4:40am
Mannuthi: 8:55am
Kalamassery: 10.35am

The bus stopped at Shoolagiri, Salem and a bunk after crossing Walayar. The cleaner shouted every time to use toilets whenever it was stopped. It was doing +/-60kmph usually and never crossed 85km/hr. Looked like there was some issue with one suspension.

The worst part was that KPN sent this bus with just one driver for about 15 hours drive. Still, attitude of the driver was too good to passengers.

Not to forget the fact that the then Jeeva Transport Corporation (TN then used to have a different Leader's name for each of the regional / district level STCs) which was head quartered in Erode used to run a bus between Chennai and Erode that was the first entertainment service - a 16mm (or was it 8mm?) projector and a screen to show movies. The service was stripped of the facility after the conductors complained as they had to work as operators in a cramped cabin at the back of the bus.

This same unit had many firsts to it including a bus that had a nose like a business jet and fake aerofoils at the back and was called the Jet bus or something like that. Used to do the Coimbatore - Erode sector in mid 80s in 2 hrs as a non-stop service when others took almost 3-3.5 hrs. This bus even had a reservation of seats.

Again when VCRs were introduced in buses of this corp were the first ones to get it.

IMO the down trend started in the last 5-6 years and all of us know who was behind it!!