[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

[u][b]
19:45 - resume journey
23:45 - krishnagiri T-junction
- continue via dharmapuri, salem & approach coimbatore, avoid the horrible avinashi stretch by deviating from chengappalli, then go via uthukuli to tiruppur, then palladam & now travel towards coimbatore on NH67, join coimbatore bypass and continue towards palghat, trichur, ernakulam
0200 - join coimbatore bypass

Poonamelle to Krishnagiri in 4 hrs, Krishnagiri to Coimbatore byepass in 2.15hrs... there should be some mistake.

anyways, SRM is the fastest service in South.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

23:45 - krishnagiri T-junction

@ coolclouds , thanks for spotting the mistake... it should read
22:45 - krishnagiri T-junction
guess i was a little groggy from lack of sleep

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

.....and what do i see ? some 50 year old bus with volvo engine (I am not joking, it was that cheap with huge gaps in glass panels & old-AL-truck style remodelled front). The less said about the interior, the better.....

I am not sure I am sounding odd!
But I see several instances where a 6 to 8 year old Volvos are in worst state of maintenance and looks so bad. Even they emit a huge smoke while propelling.They never deserve the premium they are paid for.
Since the initial investment is higher I think the Volvos are really pushed to higher extent than they deserve!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

after being booked on B9R, reached the pickup point (vyttila office). staff at office @1610 hrs - there is some "permit issue" with the usual bus (readers note : this is the daily vehicle) and there is a replacement bus ("it is volvo saaar, not ordinary bus, so full A/C only dont worry") - and what do i see ? some 50 year old bus with volvo engine (I am not joking, it was that cheap with huge gaps in glass panels & old-AL-truck style remodelled front).

Kallada is, sadly, infamous for poor quality of service. They had monopoly in most of their routes, which helped them make away with such an attitude. Now, most of their forts have been breached.

BTW, is this the bus you were talking about?


Its a 2003-model bus, recently rebuilt. They have 2 B9Rs based in Ernakulam - whenever one of them give up, this rebuilt bus is sent as spare.

Kallada operates weekend special Volvo buses from Ernakulam, as well as Kottayam, to Chennai. They have 4 rebuilt, and reregistered B7Rs in Ernakulam, and these buses are whipped every weekend to run to Chennai.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Kallada is, sadly, infamous for poor quality of service. They had monopoly in most of their routes, which helped them make away with such an attitude. Now, most of their forts have been breached.

BTW, is this the bus you were talking about?
Attachment 530992

Its a 2003-model bus, recently rebuilt. They have 2 B9Rs based in Ernakulam - whenever one of them give up, this rebuilt bus is sent as spare.

Kallada operates weekend special Volvo buses from Ernakulam, as well as Kottayam, to Chennai. They have 4 rebuilt, and reregistered B7Rs in Ernakulam, and these buses are whipped every weekend to run to Chennai.

Yup, That is a Mark I bus with a lookalike Mark IV front.
The old high dash and the straight window line is a direct giveaway.

Edit: Looking at the front tires, doesn't this bus have disk brakes at the front as the ring on the tire is missing?

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by binaiks

BTW, is this the bus you were talking about?
.......

binaiks, this was not the one, this one looks somewhat ok from outside, the one I travelled in was some grey colour on the outside, front grill was old leyland & there were large gaps in the side glass panels (huge holes in beading & a/c leaking). The inside was like a zoo, there was not even one seat without stains, the central a/c filter was broken, the luggage racks were full of filth & overall the air inside the bus was stinking. The only thing that looked fresh in that bus was the "kallada" sticker on the windshield which looked recently stuck on.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by f1fan

...Looking at the front tires, doesn't this bus have disk brakes at the front as the ring on the tire is missing?

Disc brakes are present behind the wheel rims(in axles like in car) and these show wheel rings has no part to play..

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

I have always felt uncomfortable with the calf support ( I guess that's the name for the thing ??). Unfortunately most of the buses I travel these days ( KPN, ABT) have this calf support. May be its the wrong setup only for someone my height ( 5.11) or may be I am settling into a wrong posture. I always keep it folded and even then I feel some pain in my knees the next morning. Recently I took KaSRTC to Madurai and got an old volvo I guess where this was missing and I could feel the difference the next morning, there was no pain at all. Also I took another service recently where this was missing and again felt comfortable. Anyone else feels the same or is it just my mind playing games?

Trust me, I have the same problem. Same height. Hate the damn calf support thingies and wish I could fold them completely out of the way. But yes, it is made for shorter people and my dad and wife actually like it and find it comfortable to use them.

[AkMar]

@julupani & Binai,

I cannot comment on which one is better amongst Volvo and Mercedes as I haven't travelled in Mercedes yet. Personally though, I feel that the mercedes does not match the Volvo in looks and overall exterior feel. Merc's engine sounds unrefined (compared to Volvo) from outside.

But one things for sure - Neeta's Mercedes fleet is growing by the day.

[julupani]

@AkMar

I did not feel, any perceptible difference in exterior feel of the Merc at all.

As for engine refinement, the Merc actually felt better to me. Neeta seems to have the policy of keeping the engine running even at halts to keep the AC running. And here the Volvo sounded much worse than the Merc. But I didnt put up this point as I felt that may be due to any number of issues and the difference may be a one off thing. Obviously, as I was travelling inside the buses, I dont know how bad is the sound outside. But on the inside, the Merc was definitely a lot better in terms of engine NVH.

As for exterior looks, that is a personal choice. I personally prefer the Merc over the Volvo, though I wont say either of them are lookers. But at least the Merc tries something to jazz up its looks. The Volvo design on the other hand seems more like "just a bus". The designer didnt really put his mind to it. And some how in reality, the Merc looked a lot better to me than in had in any pics. The only place where the Merc doesnt look nice is head on. The Merc, especially the pure white ones that Neeta runs, look a lot more majestic than theVolvos.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by julupani

... Neeta seems to have the policy of keeping the engine running even at halts to keep the AC running. ...

The air suspension may be a more important factor, for keeping the engine running at halts.

[julupani]

@Blue Thunder
Why should the air suspension require the engine to run?

Air suspension involves bags of high pressure air used as suspension. They dont require any amount of power to keep them inflated. Its only when you want change the pressure in the bellows do you need to power a pump, and some valves. No power is required to maintain a steady amount of pressure.

[TKMCE]

SPS is a Long term operator. Traveled on the Ugadi day, when half the IT crowd was travelling back as well. Padikkal had put bith a non AC and anAC special bus , but since I booked a couple of weeks back, was able to get a ticket on this regular SPS bus which starts from EKM at 1900 without paying any premium.

Bus is ok, enough,;leg tomm and luggage space on the racks. The driver was in no hurry to reach though and reached Madiwala ony 7.30 and then refused to take it any further (it is supposed to terminate at Kalasipalayam) since he says it is not worth taking it all the way for 3 people (the rest ofcourse had got down at Madivala or before that).. Hower the three of us did not take it quiertly so our hero stopped the next bus going to Kalasipalayam which was a Sardar Volvo and put us on that!!!

It is a long time I have been shuttling between Bangalroe and Kochi anbd my biggest grouse is that I could not find a single bus from Aluva which gave a consitent arrival; by 6.30 at Majestic or Kalsaipalayam . The 2000 Trichur BLR ACwas the only reliable option (before the service became unreliable later on) , and the Tirivalla Bangalore Super DLuxe was a good option from Bangalore ot ALuva (always reaches before 6 AM) but never the other way around as you cannot book from EKM.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Trust me, I have the same problem. Same height. Hate the damn calf support thingies and wish I could fold them completely out of the way. But yes, it is made for shorter people and my dad and wife actually like it and find it comfortable to use them.

Thanks Naveen, you made my day! I was wondering if I am the odd (oddly shaped) man out here as no one else seems to have this problem. I try to get the sleeper coaches for longer travels these days. This weekend tried a KPN multi axle from BLR to TRY. Even though the travel was short and I was damn tired and fell asleep soon, I experienced the same pain the next morning

Traveled by KPN Sleeper from Tuticurin to BLR yesterday. Started at 8.00 PM and reached BLR ( Madiwala) by 6.30 AM. Pretty comfortable overall.

[Dry Ice]

Traveled to BLR from HYD last friday(15). This was by far, the worst maintained Volvo by KaSRTC that I have come across, in the recent times. 3 full length cracks on the windscreen, shoddy blinds, makeshift curtains, it was just horrible. Though there wasn't much to complain about the ride and driver. Interestingly, it was far from full, even half full for that matter. Very less number of passengers.

Traveled from MYS-BLR today in Volvo Airavat 'club class'. B9R. One thing that struck me is the leg room! It was much more than what the private operators provide! Can anybody confirm the total number of seats! (I am comparing this to the Kaleshwari B9R I posted about earlier.)

This one being newer, was in pretty good shape. They have differentiated it from the earlier gen by using a different interior color scheme (beige vs lime green in the older B7Rs). Premium you pay is 20 above the regular Volvo fare.

Returning to HYD tonight with HKB, lets see how this one goes!