[pypkmsrikanth]

State Transport Corporation Villupuram is running the Volvo city buses from Villupuram to Chennai (my mom used it on Monday) in addition apparently to Vellore & Hosur as well. Rs.160/- from Villupuram to Chennai. Service once every 2 hours

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

State Transport Corporation Villupuram is running the Volvo city buses from Villupuram to Chennai (my mom used it on Monday) in addition apparently to Vellore & Hosur as well. Rs.160/- from Villupuram to Chennai. Service once every 2 hours

Are you sure there is a Volvo service between chennai - Hosur ?
I have never seen any such buses?
That too from Villupuram to Chennai for 160 is not that bad but 160 kms in 2 hrs is quite unbelievable.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Are you sure there is a Volvo service between chennai - Hosur ?
I have never seen any such buses?
That too from Villupuram to Chennai for 160 is not that bad but 160 kms in 2 hrs is quite unbelievable.

The service between Villupuram and Chennai is once every 2 hours. The service apparently took 3 hours to reach Koyambedu from Villupuram.

Dinamani has carried the story on the Volvo service between Vellore & Hosur from Chennai. So its certain these buses are plying, Chennai Vellore service is once in 2 hours again.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

That too from Villupuram to Chennai for 160 is not that bad but 160 kms in 2 hrs is quite unbelievable.

Not 160 kms in 2 hrs, its the time between two services.

[kiku007]

Vellore Volvos were initially running in Chennai under Metropolitan Trans. Corp. The MTC wasn't able to bear the mounting losses of the volvos so they transferred some of them to the State Trans Corp.-Vellore or Villupuram.

P.S: In another thread there was a discussion on the viability of the Volvos. I was for them while some BHPians said it's just not possible to run them with those losses. Turns out that they were correct indeed.

[TKMCE]

The posts on Sharma Transport prompts me to take a trip back the memory lane

Sharma Transports haas been in Kerala for a long time. The first time I used it was back in 1992 or so and I am sure they were operating even earlier. Their office in Ernakulam is still at the same place, the small building inside the Grand Hotel compound in MG road. In Kalasipalayam, they have now moved to a more spacious office opposite to where their old office was.

I have always been a longhaul bus traveller (flights were a luxury those days when air fares were sky high and traisn were hopelessly over crowded) and way back in the early 1990s I used to travel once a year right up to Pune with them from Ernakulam . This was the time Konkan railway had not started and the only regular train from Trivandrum was the veteran Kanyakumari-Mumbai Jayanthi Janatha express (as it was called then). To get a sleeper class ticket in those days needed contacts of the highest kind - no tatkal and tickets used to sell out in minutes after they opened for sale. Hence bus was the practical option when I went for holidays.

Sharma was selling through tickets to Pune/Mumbai from Kerala at that time. Basically their bus which used to leave at 6.30 PM from Ernakulam would reach Bangalore around 7 AM.Their connection bus to Mumbai via Pune would leave at 8.30 AM. Since through tickets were being sold, most of the travellers on the connection bus would be from Trichur and Cochin and the company provided transit facilities (washrooms etc) at their BLR office. Also the advantage was that since it wa a connection bus, if the bus from EKM got delayed, the other bus would wait.

A lot of passengers on these buses were gulf bound travellers (mostly workers) from Kerala connecting on to flights from Mumbai. This was during the time when there was no international flights from Cochin and Calicut and very limited flights from Trivandrum.

Buses were non a/c - no a/c buses during that time , but even then they were more or less punctual, the staff were polite and the bus to BOM used to reach Pune around 3 or 4 AM and drop us off at Natraj Hotel near the Swargate ST bus stand (now they drop off at Katraj after the byepass was commissioned). Oh yes ! before I forget they were all video coaches which was of no use for me as they used to play mostly Hindi movies even if the BLR-BOM bus most often would be half full of Malayalees. And they used to run atleast 3 or 4 of them during the BLR-BOM run- no wonder I have tired of Hindi movies for a life time No Ipods or MP3s, walkman was around but a luxury those days I couldnt afford, so it was the old standby to pass the time - reading a novel! Most of Arthur Haileys works were just the right size for these long trips!


Jokes apart, their service has always been good, after a few years, around 2001 or 2002 I did the BLR Pune trip on their Volvo. This was around the time they just introduced the Volvo - so you used to get some free snacks as well. Same good service, but had to get off at Katraj now that the byepass was commissioned.

A couple of years back I got the chance to use them again on Bangalore-EKM. The same good service, well maintained buses (I got one of the last seats) and punctuality was also good.

I would rate them as one of the top operators on the Ernakulam Bangalore route. I have subsequently used most of the others, but the only other service which I will rate consistently better are the Kerala RTC AC buses on the Bangalore Trichur route(Globus - not Volvo).

Cheers

[Sarvodaya]

I went to Madurai by KSRTC Volvo. The Bus was horrible. Four Passengers complained AC was leaking. The driver another idiot refuses to stop the bus over road humps. The driver side door was rattling all the way. It looks as if it would fall of any time. I asked the driver about the condition of the Bus. He replied his job was to drive however the condition of the bus was. Any complaints about the bus to be sent to Depot Manager. After paying so high fare, this is what we get. KSRTC which was well maintained a few years, has now gone to bad to worse.

My collegue went to Mysore last week. Here are the pictures. Dirty AC Vents, Leaking AC Vents. The passengers has to stuff the curtains inside the AC Vents to prevent water leakage. A talk to the depot manager says that it is the fault of the drives for not complaining about the problem of the bus. A log book is kept for every bus. If any problems, the driver has to write in the log book about the nature of the problem. While the blame game continues, passengers continue to suffer.

A Volvo Bus from Tirpuathi breaks down in the middle of nowwhere forcing passengers to sit on the road. First time I am hearing a Volvo Bus breaking down.

If this is the condition of the busses, what about the safety of Passengers. I think travelling by Volvo is becoming dangerous day by day.

[f1fan]

That's really bad
In the Mangalore-Bangalore travelling thread too, there are reports of Volvo buses breaking down.
Looks like maintenance of Volvo buses by KSRTC is going down.

Feel sad for the little infant in the snap. Also looking at the model, this doesnt look to be too old an Volvo. Looks like one version old compared to the current series.

[ajmat]

Anything will break down if not maintained. Mind you these Volvo's have been rogered by the rough roads and driving. Add to that the expensive maintenance costs and corners get cut. Too much short termism and too little focus on overall cost of ownership

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

After paying so high fare, this is what we get. KSRTC which was well maintained a few years, has now gone to bad to worse.
.

Whats the price difference in fare Blr-Mysore between KSRTC and Sharma?

[Sarvodaya]

The Volvo Bus Fare for Mysore is Rs.240. Ordinary Bus Rs.85. Train Fare Rs.40. I am not sure whether Sharma is plying buses to Mysore from Bangalore

[naveenroy]

True, the Mangalore-Bangalore KSRTC Volvo buses are the worst. Travelled last weekend to Mangalore and back. The bus was stinking - really bad. The AC was constantly switched off on the way. Worse, even the blankets given to us was smelly. They really better pull up their socks..

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Anything will break down if not maintained. Mind you these Volvo's have been rogered by the rough roads and driving. Add to that the expensive maintenance costs and corners get cut. Too much short termism and too little focus on overall cost of ownership

We know our driving conditions, our drivers habits, why then these STC go for Volvos? Is not the maintenance of Volvos done by Volvo itself.
By the way, i have seen many Volvo breakdowns in Bombay-Pune expressway also. It is a common sight these days i guess.

[Rocky_Balboa]

Anything mechanical can break-down, but wonder why the passengers sat on that horrible of a road at night! No dividers, rashly driven vehicles with poorly lit roads - cant imagine what these people were thinking!

@sarvodaya, if You know any of these passengers please tell them the perils of such a dangerous adventure.

[narayan]

the Volvo city buses in Chennai are heading down the same road. a/c vents are not present in many places. seats are never cleaned. the way the drivers take it over bumps, i am sure the mechanicals would give away soon.

glass panes are cracked in some buses !