[binaiks]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

hi binaiks,
I too am a big fan of buses. love your posts. could you tell me how much does a 30 seater 2+1 non ac sleeper bus cost? Ashok leyland or tata, built by any builder (veera, prakash etc). I am talking about the final on road price.

The cost will depend on the level of customisation, quality of body, body builder, etc. On an average a chassis will cost around 18-20 Lakhs (again depends on the specs you are looking at) and the body will add another 10-20 Lakhs (depending on various factors as mentioned earlier).

On Road price depends on which state you are registering in because the tax varies greatly - and a lot of states do not issue permits for sleeper buses (KL, TN, AP, TS, etc) and you would have to register the bus in a state that issues permits (PY, AR, NL, etc) and hence the cost will go up further (tax for the permit issuing state, plus tax for the states you will be operating in).

[deepv]

Hi folks, any particular bus service preferable for Bangalore-Hyderbad route?

Was checking on Redbus and seeing a huge number of options, but not sure how good/reasonable most of them would be.
Its after very long time looking to take a bus.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by deepv

Hi folks, any particular bus service preferable for Bangalore-Hyderbad route?

Was checking on Redbus and seeing a huge number of options, but not sure how good/reasonable most of them would be.
Its after very long time looking to take a bus.

Orange is an established and reliable operator. Worth the premium they charge. Speaking from experience.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Orange is an established and reliable operator. Worth the premium they charge. Speaking from experience.

Thanks for the suggestion .. Silversteed!
Will keep that in mind.

Had already booked up one of Jabbar Travels' bus looking at relatively higher rating, turned out to be decent ride.
Were on time both ways and buses were pretty fine either way.

[bblost]

I had a quick trip to Chennai over last weekend. Since I was to go alone, decided to use the bus service.

I installed RedBus app on my android phone.

Hyderabad to Chennai: Rs 1,000 on Friday
Orange Bus from Lakdi-ka-Pul to Koyembedu.
Bus left at 11:00 PM and reached at 10:30 AM.
Luckily they did not play any movie nor did they stop for any dinner.
They provided a blanket, which was inside a plastic bag. Very clean.
A snack box and a bottle of water.
I liked this bus and the driver was very good.

Chennai to Hyderabad: Rs 1,450 on Sunday
Kaveri Bus form Koyembedu to Lakdi-ka-Pul.
The bus left at 11:00 PM and reached at 8:00 AM.
They played some crappy Telugu movie. The blanket was on the seat. It felt clean but the Orange was much nicer.
No stop for dinner.
The driver was very rash. He drove like a mad man and the bus kept swaying and it was horrible.
They also provided the water bottle and snack box.
Found a plug point which helped me keep my phone charged while browsing the net.


I liked the Orange bus as it was driven well and was significantly cleaner that Kaveri.

The only reason I used these buses was cost.
I paid a total of approximately 3300 including Uber/ Ola fares to and from the bus stops.
My car would have easily cost me about 6500.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by bblost

I had a quick trip to Chennai over last weekend. Since I was to go alone, decided to use the bus service.

I installed RedBus app on my android phone.

Hyderabad to Chennai: Rs 1,000 on Friday
Orange Bus from Lakdi-ka-Pul to Koyembedu.
Bus left at 11:00 PM and reached at 10:30 AM.
Luckily they did not play any movie nor did they stop for any dinner.
They provided a blanket, which was inside a plastic bag. Very clean.
A snack box and a bottle of water.
I liked this bus and the driver was very good.

Orange has a very consistent service. They have a strict policy of not playing movies between 11pm to 6am. Their amenities are good - the snack box, packed blanket and all.

[amitdatta92]

I have a question. Why hasn't any OEM succeeded big time with a bi-axle front engine intercity fully built coach till today?

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by manduvindupondu

VRL has started Bangalore - Jodhpur bus which takes 36 hours. Wonder how many travel end to end! Nature calls, bath, meals, fresh up, stretching breaks. Curious to find if anyone has travelled such long distance buses (or close to it) and would like to know their practical experiences.

My friend traveled in Kesineni Bhubaneswar to Bangalore, which is a 1600KM journey. He did not face any major discomfort, as the bus stopped periodically for refreshments and other things.

[manduvindupondu]

Thanks abhishek46, interesting to make such a looong journey. Hats off to your friend!

[TKMCE]

KeSRTC should seriously relook at the way they are operating longer distance JnURM AC Volvo services between major cities in Kerala. I have undertaken the trip between Ernakulam and Trivandrum so far three times and following are my observations.

1 Cut down on the number of stops. There s no point advertising a "limited stop" service when there are 12 listed stops and an equivalent number of unlisted stops between Trivandrum and Ernakulam . At every major city such as Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam, the bus stops at multiple points, ostensibly for the convenience of alighthing passengers , many of whom would have got on board at a previous stop 20 km away,and this can be infuriating to the end to end passengers. There is little point for instance for a Trivandrum Ernakulam 0700 AM service to stop at 4 points on the Kollam outskirts when there is another 0645 Trivandrum Kollam Volvo service which these short distance passengers can use.

2 Do not take standing passengers on long distance routes. The fares on these services (Rs 351 from Trivandrum to Ernakulam) are higher than even that of the multi axle services which do not accept standing pax. On a recent trip from Trivandrum to Ernakulam I got on board the bus at Ulloor , a major stop on the outskirts of Trivandrum to find that not only there were no seats , there was hardly any one getting down at Attingal or Kollam, the next major towns .The conductor not tell me this at the time of issuing the ticket (in which case I would have got down at Kollam) , and to make things worse the bus was stopping at other small junctions like Sreekariyam, Kariyavattom etc on the Trivandrum outskirts and more and more long distance pasengers were being taken . At one point the bus had about 30 standees and it looked like the " 0700 Trivandrum Ernakulam AC Local" than one of the KeSRTC flagship premium services. Finally I ended up standing for more than 2 hours of the journey all the way till Karunagapally travelling with one fairly big bag. This defeats the whole purpose of paying for a "premium" service. There is not even a luggage rack on these buses. Allowing standees incovenience reserved long distance passengers also, as in many cases these standee passengers (who are usually for short disance) travel with infants or young kids and then get abusive with reserved long distance passengers for not giving up their seats or for "not adjusting". Better then, do not run the long distance service at all.

3 The journey time is too long. On my last two trips between Vytilla Hub and Ulloor (Trivandrum) it took 6 hours each time. From downtown you can add another half an hour more. Train is anytime a better option as it is much quicker.


On the plus side, the buses are fairly well maintained, the ACs work and the crew are generally friendly. And interestingly some (not all) of these services stop at KTDC motels and not at regular KeSRTC bus stations for food. The Trivandrum Ernakulam service I took last time stopped at the KTDC motel in Kayamkulam .

There are also some less publicised but very useful longer routes other than between Trivandrum and Ernakulam . There are two services running between Alappuzha and Munnar via Ernakulam, Aluva Kothamangalam which seems to be well patronized. There is another service between Kumily and Thodupzha which also provides convenient connections to Ernakulam . There are also services from Kochi Airport to Kozhikode and Malappuram and for the convenience of south bound passengers, the Kochi Airport - Fort Kochi services get inside Vytilla Hub, but not in the other direction.There are also two long distance overnight services from Trivandrum to Palghat and Kozhikkode, useful if you have a last minute trip as the overnight trains generally get sold out quickly.

[ranjithrnath]

Bangalore - Tirupati - Bangalore
Last month myself and my wife made a quick darshan to Tirupathi and Sri Kalahasti. We live at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam, Kerala. The first option to try was Train from Aluva, but since the fares are around Rs 1100+ from Aluva to Tirupathi we thought of flying to Bangalore and then take a bus to Tirupathi. Booked tickets for onward journey in Indigo for just Rs 1150/ pax. Since our house is only 14 km from Airport it took just 20 mins drive to reach Nedumbassery Airport. We arked our car at CIAL for 3 days and flew to Bangalore at morning 10 AM on Feb 19. Reached BIAL at 11.15 AM and then took a BMTC Vayu Vajra to majestic for Rs 220/pax.

Onward Journey
KSRTC Airavat Diamond Class
KA 57 F 1617
Scania Metrolink 13.7m
Fare : 939 Rs
Booked seats 39,40 [ behind the emergency exit : loads of legroom as the seats are removed]
ETD : 15:00
ETA : 19:40
The bus was in mint condition, conductor provided us with 500ml Bisleri bottle and a Outlook Magazine to read.
The bus departed by 15:15 and had passengers boarding enroute. We stopped for snack break by 18:30 and reached Tirupathi by 20:00
Overall the journey was super silent, no rash driving, and I loved the Scania more than Volvo as there was no noise inside the cabin even though we were at the last row. We could sleep well as the driver was not braking hard and we didn't use the seatbelts. Only bad thing was they played a typical " Balakrishna Movie ".
The bus


Bus Safety Information Card


legroom

The strange covering infront of the seats which was bolted, any idea what this is about ?

Seats

Driver Console

Return Journey
Kaveri Volvo B9R
AP 03 TE 1573
Fare : 1000 Rs [ after bargaining]
Booked seats 9A, 9B
ETD : 22:30
The bus was ex Sri Renganathan [ could read it from the traces of stickers]
Looks like a re-regd bus, they departed late only by 23:30 and dropped us at Tin Factory by 04:45 AM. No drinking water was provided, they played a Telugu movie and stopped it after one hour and switched off all lights so that everyone could sleep. The AC was kept low and I felt the seats are tighter.


We flew back to Kochi on Feb 22 by AirAsia for just Rs 1099/pax. The flight Departed an hour late by 21:30 and arrived at Kochi by 22:30.

[avingodb]

Had a Horrible experience travelling private volvo between Delhi and Mandi return trip this weekend.

For onward journey, I had booked a bus in the name of Aarya Travels that was supposed to have started from INA at 7 pm as I had one event to attend at IIC until 6 pm. When I called them to ask about the exact venue, they told me the bus for the day would leave from Majnu ka Tila instead of INA. I was told I would be compensated to reach there which I did but no compensation was made. there were very few blankets, no water was given and there were no charging points. In addition, the bus moved at 8.40 and as against the promise of stopping at Murthal for dinner (because of which I had not stocked much beyond a few candies) it stopped at Ambala Haveli at 11.45 pm. Finally it reached Mandi at 6.45 am.

The return journey was worse. This time with some company called Royal Holidays. There were blankets but no water and charging points. Bus was rickety, 13,88,460 Kms old!. My seat was 1 and 2. There were no seatbelts and the driving was so rash that I felt I would be on the floor anytime! I fought with the driver on the lack of seatbelts and he replied that no one had fallen down because of his driving in the last 10 years! I also had to tell him second time to take turns with little less speed and do overtakes more carefully but there was no change. Also, the bus broke down after Chandigarh and took good 90 minutes to repair, finally reaching Delhi at 9 am instead of 6.30.

I had read positive reviews about Himsuta but did not get a seat as our plan was not fixed in time. Will avoid the private operators at all costs in the future.

[rohitoasis]

Below is a summary of events from my recent journey.

24th March 2015. Onward from Chennai to Palakkad.
I had always used KPN as my primary travels for the past 6 years. I had lived through the worst of KPN travels. This journey i could not get a ticket. Hebron had decent reviews on being timely and decent so had booked Hebron 9 PM Volvo Multi Axle towards Ernakulam. Turned out to be an eventful journey though.

8:15 PM when i arrive at the Koyambedu Hebron office, i see a crowd of nearly 40 odd people. After reporting to the office, i go out for a eat and come back around 8:45 PM to see the crowd to have bloated to more than 80. I put on my earphones and continue waiting outside for my bus. Around 9:30 i hear ruckus in the office and go in to realise that the crowd comprises of people who are waiting for the 7:30 PM bus to Trivandrum. After all hell breaks loose, these guys comes out and starts stopping share autos and asks the passengers to hop on to it so that they can move on to the location of the bus. We should have followed suit, but sometimes the brain does go on a vacation. We offered to walk to the location (People familiar with Chennai might know that the Toyota showroom is around 600 meter from the Hebron office). The bus unfortunately is not at that location. After around 15 frantic attempts by nearly 5 of us, we understand that the bus is another half a kilometer away under the metro railway station. Finally we board the bus at 10:30 PM. (The 7:30 PM Trivandrum bus guys too board at the same time) The roads further down till Perungulathur was heavily blocked and bus reaches Perungulathur near midnight. The rest of the journey is fairly uneventful and i reach Palakkad at 8:52 AM next day.



On a side note, there was news of few buses being fined/seized for issues with Permit. Does anyone here know what the issue was and what buses got affected?

27th March 2016 Return from Palakkad to Chennai.
My usual KPN non AC arrives within 15 minutes of the usual time. Leaves also promptly. The bus usually takes the Tirupur route and near the border a cop boards the bus. I think it must be the continuation of the earlier issues we heard. After 20 minutes when the bus is still stationary, do i take off earphones and come to know that the cops wont allow the bus to leave until a fine to the order of INR 5000 is paid. I know KPN is mighty efficient in resolving such problems and just like i thought, the bus leaves in another 5 minutes time.

Is there some rule change or so which affected all these travels. If someone can elucidate what has happened?

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

On a side note, there was news of few buses being fined/seized for issues with Permit. Does anyone here know what the issue was and what buses got affected?

I am not an expert here. But the entire operations of these private bus operators are dicey, and by interpreting the laws in a way suited for them. The buses which stops at various stops, picks up passengers and drop them at a destination are classified as "Stage carriages". Such buses needs to get a special permit to operate. And if they are crossing state boundaries, then the appropriate agreements between the two states comes into picture. Click here to get some information about stage carriages in Karnataka state. For example, KA and KL have agreed on 79 routes in which stage carriages can ply. 615 such permits were given by KA government (to run buses to KL), where as 236 permits were issued by KL and countersigned by KA.

The problem is that many state governments do NOT allow private operators to run an inter-state route. Generally the state government's bus operator (Ka.SRTC, TNSTC) gets these. What the private operators do is to get a "Contract carriage" permit. As per this provision the bus can ply on a route "contracted" between them and a tour operator. The catch is that such "contract carriages" cannot have multiple pick up & drop points. This is ideally meant for plying large number of tourists from one origin to one single destination. The private bus operators club all the individuals into one group, mark them as a "group of tourists" and then use the "contract carriage" permit to ply the bus. It is not that the RTOs etc. do not know about this. Once in a while if these operators gets a bit uppity or try to punch above their weight the RTOs etc. swing into action.

The "permit violation" here could be many things. One could be this "contract carriage" permit getting violated. Or else the specific bus did not have the permit to ply in Tamil Nadu.

[Dieseltuned]

Just came back from a trip to Kolhapur from Bombay. Used a avery old but lesser known bus operator 'Ghatge Patil transport'.

They ply sleeper buses from borivali to Kolhapur. The sleeper buses were superbly maintained, clean and the staff very courteous. Both the to and fro journeys were very punctual, bus left on the dot. I was travelling with my wife and 2 year old kiddo and the upper deck seats were adequate for the 2 and and a 1/2 of us

These buses have a very peculiar routing which is a bit different from other operators ::
Route taken was :: Borivali -> Andheri (Chakala) -> MIDC -> SEEPZ -> Powai -> Bhandup -> Mulund -> Thane -> Take the thane Belapur road via Kalwa to hit the expressway.

Regards
Dieseltuned