[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by venki.bala

Any idea friends what time the service APSRTC Garuda 5019 that leaves Chennai CMBT at 6.30 PM reaches Hyderabad MGBS? Basically i need to be in Hyderabad early by 6.30 am or so. I am not sure any other service such as Kesineni or Kaveri will reach that early. Any other pointers are welcome.

There are 2 APSRTC Garuda buses that start from Koyambedu bus stand everyday. Last year in the month of October I took an APSRTC Garuda from Koyambedu to MGBS. The bus (belongs to Nellore Depot) which was supposed to start at 6.30 was cancelled due to the then Seemandhra strike.

The bus I travelled (belongs to Hyderabad, M.G.B.S, Depot) started at 7.45 P.M and reached L.B Nagar, Hyderabad by 7.15 A.M. If it is possible, please check with the driver about the arrival time.

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

There are 2 APSRTC Garuda buses that start from Koyambedu bus stand everyday. Last year in the month of October I took an APSRTC Garuda from Koyambedu to MGBS. The bus (belongs to Nellore Depot) which was supposed to start at 6.30 was cancelled due to the then Seemandhra strike.

The bus I travelled (belongs to Hyderabad, M.G.B.S, Depot) started at 7.45 P.M and reached L.B Nagar, Hyderabad by 7.15 A.M. If it is possible, please check with the driver about the arrival time.

I did travel by the APSRTC 6.30 PM Volvo that belongs to the Nellore Depot AP11 Z 6049. The Bus looked very old from outside and when i got in i saw it had already clocked about 12 lacs KM. Yes i double checked it. It had about 12 lacs on the ODO. I assumed the journey is going to be rough one in such a old bus. To my surprise it has been maintained very well. No retlles, squeaks. The drivers very sedate at around 70 KMPH, no rash overtakings. there were 5 of us to Hyd and about 10 people were there for Nellore. The bus stopped for dinner break at Sulerpeta at 8 Pm for 30 mins and reached Nellore Bus stand at 10 PM. Here is where I realised actually major chunk of bookings for this bus is done from here. It's dep time from Nellore is at 10.30, due to delay by 2 passengers the bus left at 10.45 and took some time to reach back the NH. It reached Ongole around 1 am and the 2nd driver took over. Both the drivers were very sedate and the bus took Addankki - Nalgonda - Narketpally road and journey was even smoother. Reached MGBS by 6.20 dropped me at KPHB at around 7.05 am ( 20 mins delay as per the mentioned time).

The journey was good. But unnecessarily you waste an hour because of Nellore,ongole,MGBS stop. I think one can take the private buses that start around 7.30 from chennai would also reach around the same time. You can spend additional one hour more in chennai.

[silversteed]

Travelled last night from Palakkad to Bangalore in a KSRTC Super Deluxe service, that leaves Thrissur at 2000hrs. I booked a seat in this service only to try out the new bus built on the Tata LPO1512c EX chassis. The bus, RSC779 was clean, and seats were in good shape. The reclining mechanism was also working. The build appeared to be better than the Palakkad depot's Super Deluxe buses (RSC696 and 697). Maybe, the Thrissur depot garage has done some work on the pathetic bodies built by the Central Workshop, Pappanamcode. Less rattles and squeaks. The brake liner noise that's an irritant with the non-EX series Tata chassis has been contained though it does appear once in a while. The engine note is very loud and coarse, which is expected of the Cummins engine. And there's the obvious difference in 'pulling' because of the 135hp engine instead of the AshLey Super Deluxe's 160hp. On the whole, the bus is good. This particular bus also has been adorned by LED marker lights on the outside.

The bus arrived at Palakkad depot at 21:45hrs, 30min behind schedule. Left 5 minutes after. The bus was full, hence it hit the L&T bypass road at Madukkarai. Unlike the KaSRTC counterparts, these Super Deluxe buses don't take too many breaks, and maintain a higher average speed. It overtook a KaSRTC B7R that had left Palakkad at 21:20hrs (could be a special service), soon after hitting the 4-laned stretch at Avinashi. Got dropped off at Silk Board at 05:00hrs.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Travelled last night from Palakkad to Bangalore in a KSRTC Super Deluxe service, that leaves Thrissur at 2000hrs. ......

Nice review Pramod. Never thought that 8pm SE is replaced with new SD. I think there are no SE buses to Bangalore via Salem now.

Any idea about new Volvo routes? Just saw news that existing Super Deluxes will continue in service along with Volvos.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Nice review Pramod. Never thought that 8pm SE is replaced with new SD. I think there are no SE buses to Bangalore via Salem now.

I think so. Both the SE services from Thrissur, and the one SE service each from Kottayam and Ekm which were earlier run as Globus AC airbus services are now replaced with Super Deluxe services.

Any idea about new Volvo routes? Just saw news that existing Super Deluxes will continue in service along with Volvos.

I read that all the new Volvos will be used to service Bangalore routes. I guess the allotment is TVM-3, KTM-2, EKM-2, KKD-3 (or KKD-2 and TSR-1, not sure).

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Travelled last night from Palakkad to Bangalore in a KSRTC Super Deluxe service, that leaves Thrissur at 2000hrs. I booked a seat in this service only to try out the new bus built on the Tata LPO1512c EX chassis. The bus, RSC779 was clean, and seats were in good shape. The reclining mechanism was also working. The build appeared to be better than the Palakkad depot's Super Deluxe buses (RSC696 and 697). Maybe, the Thrissur depot garage has done some work on the pathetic bodies built by the Central Workshop, Pappanamcode. Less rattles and squeaks. The brake liner noise that's an irritant with the non-EX series Tata chassis has been contained though it does appear once in a while.

The particular bus has brand new seats - in fact, most of the new TATA ones have new seats. ("Most" - not all). The interstate buses of Thrissur are maintained really well - there is a dedicated team of technicians and dedicated drivers for those services - they check the buses throughout every single day and make sure they are in good shape.

The body quality of the TATA ones are somewhat better than the Leyland ones - because these were not made under pressure - CW had lots of time to finish them.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Nice review Pramod. Never thought that 8pm SE is replaced with new SD. I think there are no SE buses to Bangalore via Salem now.

Any idea about new Volvo routes? Just saw news that existing Super Deluxes will continue in service along with Volvos.

Yes. There are only Super Deluxe/Garuda services via Salem now. In fact, majority of the services which come to Bangalore are Super Deluxes now - out of the 50 Super Deluxe buses with Kerala SRTC, 40 are running to Bangalore, 6 within Kerala and 4 buses are spares! I am doubtful about Super Deluxes being retained along with Volvos where ever they are introduced. AFAIK, the inter-state agreement does not let KeSRTC do that - unless they sign a new agreement, thereby increasing the number of kilometres they can operate, that wouldn't be possible.

[condor]

Booking KSTRC Airavat Club Class.
VRL still had 40+ seats vacant on a few services, so may end up in cancellations. (my guess).

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

VRL anyday on this route. Other option would be KaSRTC club class

Any idea if the first two seats on the left are converted as berth's ?

[coolclouds]

Did Kallada restart their Mumbai service? Today spotted a Kallada near Chitradurga going towards Bangalore.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by condor

Booking KSTRC Airavat Club Class.

Any idea if the first two seats on the left are converted as berth's ?

Sorry condor, I have no idea on this. Maybe this is a new development. Last time I saw a couple of Mumbai bound club class they did not have this

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by condor

Any idea if the first two seats on the left are converted as berth's ?

The first two seats are reserved for the crew. Some of them convert the seats into berths by putting in cartons/wood planks in the space between.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Did Kallada restart their Mumbai service? Today spotted a Kallada near Chitradurga going towards Bangalore.

Yes. They started again from First April.

[sandsun7]

Bookings are open for Kerala SRTCs new multi axle service between Bangalore and Trivandrum. First service is on May 1st. Disappointed with the fares, though. Rs. 1361 (excluding reservation charges) end to end, is almost on par with private operators who charge Rs. 1400. Karnataka SRTC is way cheaper, at 1140.

[BulZire]

I happened to board the KPN multi axle volvo from Erode to Bangalore 2 days back. The Bus actually starts from Tiruppur. The outside and inside of the bus was in an average condition and performance was very poor. The bus was rattling everywhere and the engine was misfiring like anything. I can hear that evidently as i was sitting in the last but one seat. I strongly believe the service was not done anytime recently and the maintenance is very poor.

For the 700 rs I paid, I did not get either a water bottle or blanket. is it the same with other operators also ?. Previously KPN use to provide it.
The worst volvo experience I ever had

[venki.bala]

Yesterday I travelled in SRM Volvo from Hyderabad to Chennai. When all other operators were charging 1300, was surprised to see SRM for 900 and then got another discount in Redbus using a coupon. Ended up buying the ticket for 825 Rs. Dep time was 8.15 pm at Mehdipattinam. Reached the pillar 53 at around 8 pm, Saw SRM Sleeper waiting. My bus came around 8.20 and all the passengers were verified first in Sleeper and it left immediately. Our Volvo left by 8.35 took the Expressway - Old kurnool Road and then inner ring road and reached LB nagar by 9.15 Pm. Here 15 mins were wasted as 3 passengers didnot show up. left at 9.30 pm reached hotel kanakadurga at narketpally X roads by 11 pm. Was suprised to see almost 10 buses destined for chennai waiting there. Had a chat with the driver and he confirmed that all chennai bound buses have started taking the SH2 nowadays.

By the way Bus quality was good, seats were comfortable and no water bottles were given. But the driver was rash & aggressive. twice he hard braked and scared me to hell. Told the same to the driver at the dinner stop and he apologised. All of us were alighted out and door was locked. after dinner break the bus started by 11.30 reached Medarametla by 2.30 am. the driver was very sedate after the dinner break. The 2nd driver took over and he was honking continuously to push the lorries out of his way. i lost sleep after this and kept awake. these volvo drivers oh man... keep pushing the poor truck drivers out of the way in a very aggressive way. i felt so sorry for those truckers. reached Koyambedu by 7 am. Told the same observation to the 2nd driver that he was very rash and aggressive and he gave a stare and i moved out. maybe I should drop an email to their chairman. I recently travelled twice in APSRTC volvos, even though they waste a lot of journey time by going in to towns like Nellore, ongole i felt they were very sedate and i felt really safe inside. Not the same with the SRM yesterday.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by BulZire

I happened to board the KPN multi axle volvo from Erode to Bangalore 2 days back.
For the 700 rs I paid, I did not get either a water bottle or blanket. is it the same with other operators also ?. Previously KPN use to provide it.

I have never received a water bottle on KPN. They usually provide a blanket for night journeys, surprised you did not get that. Was this a day journey by any chance?

Originally Posted by venki.bala

But the driver was rash & aggressive. twice he hard braked and scared me to hell. Told the same to the driver at the dinner stop and he apologised.

The 2nd driver took over and he was honking continuously to push the lorries out of his way. i lost sleep after this and kept awake. these volvo drivers oh man... keep pushing the poor truck drivers out of the way in a very aggressive way. Told the same observation to the 2nd driver that he was very rash and aggressive and he gave a stare and i moved out. maybe I should drop an email to their chairman.

SRM has always been rash in their driving - I have faced this on their Bangalore - Trivandrum sectors, both in Volvo and AC Sleeper. Once I was in their AC sleeper and the driver was so rash that he rear ended a truck near Salem and lost the left-side hanging mirror ! The only sedate driving on SRM was on a recent AC Sleeper trip to Tuticorin. Not just SRM, I find most private Volvos (SRS, Kallada etc) rash to my liking. KPN is usually sedate as they have a lot of middle aged drivers for the Volvos, unlike the others where the drivers are youngsters !

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Did Kallada restart their Mumbai service? Today spotted a Kallada near Chitradurga going towards Bangalore.

I spotted this Orange color bus near Chitradurga after 9am IIRC. Spotted probably the same bus (not sure about registration number) inside Mumbai today by 12 noon. Any idea about its schedule?