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I have traveled in Kottayam KeSRTC volvo twice in the past couple of months. On both occasions a new driver took over the duty from Palakkad onwards. May be the authorities thought Ernakulam is too near to Palakkad to warrant a change in driver.

12 hours ia not a concern in buses like Volvo.IIRC, most of the Shama buses were running with single driver.

My neighbour is a driver at Trivandrum depot for a very long time. He travels from Ernakulam to Trivandrum, does two TVM-Kottayam round trips and returns.

Similar is the case with most of the State transport drivers.

KeSRTC planning to start double decker buses on long distance routes

KOCHI: To enhance efficiency on inter-state transportation routes in the state, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has planned to introduce double-decker buses on long-distance circuits.
KSRTC officials have started negotiating with companies such as Volvo and Scania, which have introduced a series of similar buses in several countries in the world, said KSRTC officials on Saturday.
The proposal for double-deckers has been put forward to the state government by the KSRTC after its MD Antony Chacko had made a study visit to Brazil, which is said to be home for the first Bus Transport Rapid System (BTRS) in the world.
“We have been inspired by Brazil’s transport system where double-decker buses are its part and parcel. That’s why such a proposal has been placed before the government. We have informed the government about the benefits of a similar system here more because of its cost-effectiveness,” said Antony Chacko.
Negotiations are on with Scania and Volvo companies about the feasibility of introducing such a system here for the KSRTC, said Antony Chacko, adding that they were thinking of introducing quad-axle double-decker coaches as they are more sturdy and as most of the buses operating in the state are of tri-axles.
The bus will be able to accommodate 70 persons, with 17 seats on the bottom deck and 54 on the upper deck.
According to officials, government can save a lot of money as BTRS will cost only one tenth of the fund required for a metro rail system.
The KSRTC currently owns two double-deckers, one being operated on the Angamaly-Aluva route and the other run solely for tourism purposes in Thiruvananthapuram.
With a quaint style, however, the buses will attract tourists as well as natives, said the officials

Source

Quick trip update : Did and quick onward and return journey of Bangalore to Mantralaya last week. Had booked the club class of Ka SRTC, the starting point is now Majestic ( KBS) instead of the Shantinagar BS. Got dropped at the Shantinagar BS, the buses were OK and the journey pretty pleasant.
The return journey was very fast though, boarded the bus at Mantralaya at 10:45 PM and was in Majestic at 4 :30 AM.

Quick review.
1) Travelled from Hyd - Vizag in Diwakar on Friday night
Positives:
Good pickup/drop points
Sedate driving - no horns, no sudden braking, no zigzag,
Punctuality
Good seating comfort - Yes, the seat didnt overshoot the supporting elevated platform . In Kesineni Volvo bus, this was irritating. I had to keep my right leg on the gangway/corridor when I sat on the Left side Aisle seat.
No disturbing night lamps
Good enroute pitstops for nature calls. Even for Women
Good movie was played-of course , it is subjective stupid:

Negatives
Slightly old bus, foul smell on some blankets.

2) Vizag - Hyd in Kesineni

Positives
Kesineni Brand name ! Thats it

Negatives:
1) Not very comfortable pickup/drop points. Of course, my mistake as I booked in a hurry.
2) No TV to play a movie
3) Bad driving - honking for no reason even on BZA-HYD highway!
4) Night lamps disturbed my sleep
5) Seat layout was bad - discussed earlier in Positives of Diwakar
6) Took more time despite being rash.
7) Not punctual.
8) Rude staff
9) Unable to reach the mobile/customer care. They dont provide the driver/conductor mobile no! Ridiculous

Both Diwakar and Kesineni did not offer snacks/biscuits/chips/water. I guess it is a standard cost cutting measure across the operators

I guess Kesineni service on multiple routes is on a steady and rapid decline. Good news for other operators.

I am not a regular traveller on this Hyd-Vizag route. Was wondering why it takes 11 hours from Dilsukhnagar - Gajuwaka, despite the new Hyd-Vijayawada highway! Others, please throw light.

Also, please suggest good travels with safe/punctual driving and clean buses on Hyd-Vizag route.

How about Kaleshwari travels? BTW, I do not have any experience of travelling in buses to Vizag or Vijayawadastupid:.

How on earth a bus can do 205 kmph? Does it mean that there are bugs on RTO systems?

Link

Saar, it's from the ToI's cousin in Kerala - we can expect even supersonic speeds clocked by "Volvo" buses.

Unless someone tries something like this: Beetle vs Porche
...a bus cannot do 205kmph on Kerala roads
lol:

I am looking out a Volvo bus from Mangalore to Belgaum on 19th Dec. Can some one suggest

Mangalore runs services to Mumbai and Pune through KSRTC and is quite popular too.

There is one departing at 21:36 which is Airavatha (Volvo) service.

Apart from this, private operators too have daily services for Mumbai/Pune that finding a ride to Belgaum should never be a problem from Mangalore.

As an alternate, you can take a train from Mangalore to Goa and then a Bus to Belgaum too.

Did a Chennai - Hyderabad ride on 14-12-2014 by Orange Travels. Boarding Point was Koyambedu PVt Bus stand Shop no G25. As usual reached the Bus terminal and went inside looking for shop no 25. My miss. It turned out to be a different operator. the guy standing there then guided me to the 1st Shopping complex at the entrance where G25 is located. walked back to the entrance to G25 and found no one there. it was 7.45 and called up the number mentioned in the ticked and he asks me to walk out to a spot on the road near Hotel Royal Plaza. Bus was there already. New bus well maintained. Got in. Seat was F1,2. We waited and waited for the next 1.05 hrs. Some passenger was running late and after he came he wanted to load his Bike in the cargo section. this took a lot of time and some bashing from all the passengers the bus left by 8.55 Pm a good 55 mins delay. Stooped at Munnabhai Dhaba, Sulurpet at 10 PM. We were given a box of snacks as soon as the bus started at koyambedu which had a Cake, Good day and Haldirams namkeen alongwith a water bottle. After the dinner break I slept and it one of the smoothest rides. The second driver who had taken over after the dinner break was very good. he was driving sedately with no rash maneuvers but still was consistently clocking 90 - 100. I was woken up at 5.45 am when the attender announced we had reached LB nagar. Got down in Lakdikapul at 6.30 am. Reached my home nizampet by 7.30 after catching a RTC. Even though the delay irked me but the smooth drive actually compensated the delay. Hope Orange continues to maintain the same.

Any idea of the route taken by the private bus operators? Are they still using the Sagar road or are they taking the Addanki - Narketpalli highway?

oh.. none of the operators including the RTC are taking Sagar route nowadays. Its all addanki - Narketpalli highway. I spoke to the orange driver about this and he said it saves them a lot of time and maintenance cost even though the toll Charges are there.

Any suggestions on a good B'lore-Chennai-B'lore Volvo service that enables boarding/alighting at Adyar?

Old reviews suggest Roadlink is a good option but any updates on the current situation would be useful.