[SchumiFan]

A lot of criticism for KPN and rightly so. I remember traveling in their Madurai-Chennai buses in my 3rd std. They used to change the cover of the head rest at Trichy when they stop for dinner at Anand Hotel (I think). Their buses were well maintained and one couldn't identify if the engine was on or not.

They were the first to introduce Volvos to the destinations in South. Even now they maintain a healthy advantage in fleet over the others. ABTX and ARC have a lot to do before catching up with them. The ABTX drivers/cleaners shout at your face if you don't return the shawl to them at the end of the journey. We will have to take it up to them and return it if not we are made to do it by traveling the length of the bus to the seats occupied by us.

And they charge a lot for their Leylands. I have never travelled in ARC and I hope they are better than their people from Kovai. The last time I travelled in KPN, the driver was courteous enough to drop just in front of my house on the highway.

I will be traveling in one at then end of this week and will post my experience here. The one reason that still works in favour of them is the large fleet they have and the amount of people traveling to other towns every week is increasing rapidly. Just the ARC/ABTXs or Parveen won't do. I think some of them may have experienced the rotten ones of the lot in your trip

And if you really think they need to change, then just copy the content of your post and put it to their customer care mail ID. They also have a number with them which you can call if you have any problems during the travel.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

And they charge a lot for their Leylands. I have never travelled in ARC and I hope they are better than their people from Kovai. The last time I travelled in KPN, the driver was courteous enough to drop just in front of my house on the highway.

Well well well... It seems YOU are the lucky one with KPN and an unlucky one with ABT/ARC, rather than some of us who got to see the ugly side of KPN in most cases.

I travelled in KPN just once, but have been to CMBT, Guindy, Gandhipuram, Madiwala, etc, to pick up and see off people who had the misfortune of travelling by KPN. I specifically said misfortune because, all the people who used KPN's services were unhappy with it, especially punctuality. Each time I see it happen, I just do the most logical thing - stay away from them.

About ABT/ARC charging higher than a Volvo for Leylands, I don't mind paying for the extra comforts and cordial crew that I had in all my trips between Chennai and Coimbatore/Bangalore. These two operators maintain their buses well, and invariably reach on time, which I've experienced in almost all my trips.

The cabin NVH is much much less than even Volvos. The reason, I think, is that the engine (and driver cabin) is separated from the passenger space, unlike Volvos and other RE buses where there is just the sound insulation provided for the passenger space. The engine note is easily heard when they open the partition door in FE Leylands.

Moreover I am more concerned about the comfort and safety rather than the brand name. I started using ARC's services when their Chennai-CBE fare was less than Rs.500. KPN's AC fare was 550 for Leyland, and ~600 for Volvo. Never checked KPN's fares after that, so i don't know how it's now. However, ARC and ABTX charge you close to Rs.600 now, which I guess has more to do with demand rather than increase in running costs.

The one reason that still works in favour of them is the large fleet they have and the amount of people traveling to other towns every week is increasing rapidly. Just the ARC/ABTXs or Parveen won't do.

I agree to that. Having a large fleet does help during festival seasons, as they can cash in on the increased demand very easily.

And if you really think they need to change, then just copy the content of your post and put it to their customer care mail ID. They also have a number with them which you can call if you have any problems during the travel.

I've tried sending a mail. No response till date from KPN. I doubt if they have time to look into such complaints, with the number of unsatisfied travellers.

[greenhorn]

had the misfortune of travelling bangalore -tvm on an atlas/sharma travels bus. The AC had been off and we were being grilled inside until after we crossed the border. Would rather stick to the regular ones.

Is this the same Sharma travels of before ?

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

The last time I travelled in KPN, the driver was courteous enough to drop just in front of my house on the highway.

Lucky you. A couple of times got rudely snubbed by the KPN driver, as he said that he will not stop in the highway to help us get down (which is close to my place, otherwise had to travel 5 kms at 3 am). This happened when I was travelling with my wife and I did not want to disturb my parents to pick us up in the middle of the night.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

had the misfortune of travelling bangalore -tvm on an atlas/sharma travels bus. The AC had been off and we were being grilled inside until after we crossed the border. Would rather stick to the regular ones.

Is this the same Sharma travels of before ?

I have not seen any atlas named bus in sharma transports. The website of sharma transports is ::Sharma Transports:: and you can check if this was the bus you have taken. Maybe it was shama travels and not sharma transports. I have found that sharma is very reliable and has comfortable and neat buses whenever I travel by them on the hyderabad-bangalore route.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by mtnrajdeep

I have not seen any atlas named bus in sharma transports. The website of sharma transports is ::Sharma Transports:: and you can check if this was the bus you have taken. Maybe it was shama travels and not sharma transports. I have found that sharma is very reliable and has comfortable and neat buses whenever I travel by them on the hyderabad-bangalore route.

I think this is a weekend special service. There are several special services during weekend which are not at all reliable.

[para_7k]

Guys,

I'm planning a trip from Chennai to Kodaikanal next Month. I see that the only A/C buses are from KPN and Parveen.

Any feedback please.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by para_7k

Guys,

I'm planning a trip from Chennai to Kodaikanal next Month. I see that the only A/C buses are from KPN and Parveen.

Any feedback please.

Between the two I would go with Praveen than KPN. Sleeper bus might be a bit uncomfortable in the ghat roads.

Incidentally since you are planning well in advance why don't you take the train to Kodai Road and go by road from there.

[para_7k]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Between the two I would go with Praveen than KPN. Sleeper bus might be a bit uncomfortable in the ghat roads.

Incidentally since you are planning well in advance why don't you take the train to Kodai Road and go by road from there.

Thanks. I was just planning to save some money.

A 3 tier A/C ticket for 2 costs me around 1300 and cab rates have become high these days.

I'll try my luck with Parveen.

[Newpunter]

After having travelled in Private Volvos in the south between Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and even Mumbai-Bangalore, I travelled in a Volvo in the north last month between Delhi-Manali and Shimla-Delhi.
I have to say that the private transport sector is completely unorganized even in the capital of the country. The private operators are much better in the south and don't cheat the customers too much ( except on the Bangalore-Hyderabad route where the smaller private operators cheat customers a lot ).
Here is my experience of my trip.

Delhi-Manali trip: Booked a ticket from Himachal Volvo tours for the Easter weekend online from Ticketvala. The ticket cost 1200Rs. The bus was supposed to leave from 4:30 PM from Ramakrishna Ashram Marg. At 2PM on the day of travel, I got a call from the operator saying the Volvo bus had a breakdown, so there would be a replacement bus which wouldn't be a volvo bus a Tata Luxuria bus. I had no other option so I said ok.
Since we were starting from Gurgaon, we left early and reached their office by 3:45 PM. Now, the bus that was supposed to start at 4:30 PM did not even arrive till 5:30 PM and the guys were not even bothered about the delay and kept saying they would be starting in another 5 min. Meanwhile I realised that other customers had paid varying amounts for the same bus ticket varying all the way from 900 to 1200 Rs.
Finally the bus started at around 5:35 PM. When we boarded the bus, the helper guy took 10 rs per baggage. I asked them why they were taking this money and he said it was a normal practice here. After arguing why they didnt mention while booking tickets, I let it go ( my problem was not with the money, but why they didn't inform before hand about this charge ). I asked them if they would be charging for giving blankets too and the guy laughed and said no they wouldn't be charging for that ( I didn't realise what he meant till later ).
So finally, after picking up everyone, it was already 8 PM before we left Delhi. I couldn't believe I had left Gurgaon at 2 PM for this bus which was in Delhi till 8 PM. The guys from the travel company got down from the bus and only the driver and the helper were left in the bus. Now, the helper guy gave one water bottle for each 2 seats saying they didn't have enough bottles. I asked him what happens if the 2 people sitting next to each other were not related and he had no answer. Then when i asked him about the blankets, he said they didn't have any blankets and that he was not liable to answer anything as this bus was just a temporary replacement and they were not related to the travel company with whom we had booked our ticket.
The bus was not comfortable at all and the seats were very bad ( it was not a Volvo afterall) . The driver got lost once and he had turn back after traveling a few kms on the wrong route. After that one of the guys traveling in the bus sat at the front and guided him. The bus was supposed to reach Manali by 9 AM but we reached there by 11:30 AM. There was only one driver for the whole distance which took around 18 hours ( unlike in the south where even the private operators have 2 drivers for any journey more than 8 hours ).

On the return journey from Shimla to Delhi, I had booked my ticket online on the HPTDC Volvo bus. This bus was very good. The seats were very comfortable, everyone got a bottle of water, although no blankets ( I realised that they probably don't give blankets in volvo buses in the north ). The staff was very courteous and the bus started on time and reached before time.
Got my lesson that it is better to travel on the government buses than private buses when you are traveling in the north, while it is the opposite in the South.

[accentgiri]

Last year April we traveled from Delhi to Manali in Volvo buses operated by Himachal Tourism Department. Tickets were booked by me at their Chennai office during February itself. We had a hassle free journey. Some of the photos of the bus taken during the journey I am posting here... Travelling was a memorable one. Don't remember the exact time it started from Delhi, but it reached Manali around 8.45 AM. The bus halted at two hotels both were found to be good. Buses were at par with private Volvo buses operated in the south

[Newpunter]

The Himachal Tourism buses are really good and the resorts maintained by Himachal Tourism are also very good. If one wants to visit Himachal Pradesh, these buses are the best way to travel. Sadly, I learnt this only during the return part of my trip.

[swiftdiesel]

As far as I know, Parveen does not operate an AC service to Kodaikanal. It's a non-AC service that has a slightly longer duration than KPN since they go through Pondicherry.

[SchumiFan]

I guess it is time to finally bid goodbye to KPN and look forward to some other operators. The only reason I take their buses is the less number of seats in them and better leg room. But they are taking the loyalty thing too far.

Had a very bitter experience this time at Perungalathur(PGTR), where we were forced to stand for nearly 1.45 hours for the bus. The 9'o clock bus from CMBT came at around 10:45PM to PGTR and we were standing on the road all the time.

The blessed soul at the office doesn't have a clue where the bus is and when it will arrive and there was no proper arrangement to atleast get some chairs for the people who were waiting. I felt very bad to have put my parents to this ordeal since they too had to stand all the while without any place to sit and they come under Senior Citizen category according to the railways.

The bus eventually arrived and it was a comfortable journey. The Volvo was clocking 80-90Kmph all the while and we alighted the bus at 6:30AM at Madurai.

The return was OK since we were starting from Periyar Bus Stand (the starting point of most travels). Got seats to sit while waiting for the bus.

Got the very first seat on the bus and was happy for it since I could stretch my legs. But I was very unhappy because there was no calf support in that seat alone. But since the seats were wide (2+1 config) I was OK with it.

The 9:30PM bus eventually started at 10:15PM and after picking up passengers at other points left the city at 10:30PM. The bus clocked 104Kmph during a stretch before Perambalur and was constantly clicking 80-95Kmph.

After the mandatory stop at a place for refreshing ourselves, the bus kept a steady pace and was dropped at PGTR at 5AM. I asked him if he could stop at my place but he refused to do so

There is only a driver in the bus, no cleaners or co-driver. I feel it is making him feel lonely and pressurised and now-a-days they are not as friendly as they were before.

Don't know how much KPN saves through these measures but the effect of having another guy giving company during the night rides would ease some pressure off the drivers. KPN should do something to address this problem else risk losing customers. I would travel on a later date rather than taking KPN next time.


SRM seems to be a better bet since I saw almost 5-10 buses arriving to pick-up passengers to various destinations and the buses were all cool. There was no waiting business like KPN. Their buses seems to be coming like a monsoon shower and didn't stop for a while.

Would definitely take SRM next time and see how is their service and leg-room since they have more seats than KPN in all their buses.


Just saw SUN TV in their news bulletin announcing Celtic team as the Rangers and reporting their Scottish Cup win. The names of the clubs were on TV and I wonder how they miss the obvious. Some in Scotland must seriously be plotting their revenge for this Himalayan error

[speedsatya]

Found this about Neeta .

https://picasaweb.google.com/rayalmp...92856848446850