[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

During my trip to Bangalore last month I had booked my return trip by Bangalore mail. The ticket was RAC till the charts were prepared. The train started late and by the time the TTE confirmed my berth after the stoppage at Bangalore Cant. station it was beyond 11.30 PM. Ended up sleeping sometime after that only to be woken up by the attendant at 4:15 in the morning informing us the train has already reached Chennai Central.

Overnight travel to Bangalore is becoming an issue because you start late and reach very early irrespective of the mode of travel.

Trains averaging 90kmph is better than 90kmph average in a volvo and with the given traffic sense in the Bang-chennai highway, I would prefer train which reaches faster than a bus reaching quicker. If we have a dedicated expressway, then its fine but I would not want to travel 90kmph averaging volvo in the current highway.

[libranof1987]

I did a Bangalore - Panaji - Bangalore this weekend by Airavath.

The bus departed at 8.50 (delay of 151`qmin). Surprisingly, the bus terminal was not at all chaotic on friday night (as expected since this weekend had Ganeshotsav going on).

Anyway, so we left Majestic in a Gen. 2 Volvo (the one with round tail-lamps) and this one seemed slightly well-maintained. Overall, the driving seemed fine; it was as if the driver was out for a stroll.

First halt was at some place near the Kamath (guess 100kms from B'lore). The movie went on till about 2330. Then, the TV was switched off. The 2nd stop happened at some place no one bothered to get down. By morning, the bus stopped a third somewhere, mainly for a pee break.

Once the bus started closing in on Madgaon, people started getting down every few kms. It was irritating for the passengers who weren't getting down. Can't blame anyone though; even I'd like to alight closest to my destination.

Finally, at 9.30am, we reached the Bus Terminus at Panaji.

Our return journey was at 1951 from a diff. place (it was somewhere near the bridge near the Jettys). There were 2 buses standing; the one scheduled to depart at 1936 and 1951. Incidently, both departed at 2030. Once we started, the bus started 3 times; each at diff. points to pick passengers. We were on the last row this time and the engine vibrations and sound was too prominent to notice. The drivers drove well and average alternately. Every now and then, there was this warm air behind; the a/c was trying its best to keep it cool.

The bus stopped at Hotel Tarang, Ankola; not a very pleasant place. After almost an hours halt, it next stopped somewhere for refuelling. A third stop happened in the morning about 120kms away from B'lore.

We finally reached Majestic at 1045.

1) Buses really need speaker volume control for each seat; it is desperately required as the movies often have bad sound quality and are played loud.

2) KSRTC needs to update the arrival timings on the website; the listed journey time for each bus is 13 hours (while it took ~15). My friends travelling with me had to get their flights rescheduled while in the bus because of the delay.

3) KSRTC has indeed limited the speed on the Volvos; it is ~80 km/hr. On both occasions and even earlier journeys on B'lore-Manipal and B'lore-Pune, I've observed that the buses don't cruise freely; the engine always sounds strained. I confirmed with the driver today; the speed are limited now. You'll find private Volvos overtaking KSRTC Volvos with ease.

4) Absurd pricing of tickets : B'lore - Panaji on friday was 796 and the return was 1222.

Overall, given the schedule, turn-around time and maintenance, the charm of the Volvos is slowly wearing off.

[BulZire]

Its not review from a passenger but from a outsider/fellow rider by side,
I happened to follow Bangalore - Kerala[Not sure of destination] Kallada on 1st Sep for some time when i was driving to my native.

It's a green color B9R Multi Axle and was following and heading him for nearly 130kms between Dharmapuri[NH7] and perundhurai [NH47] around 11 PM to 12.30 AM.

He was constantly doing 110..120, reviving it hard sometimes in empty roads and hopefully he should be touching the maximum speed limits at those stretches.The driver was maintaining good lane discipline with proper signals. But at one point, he scrapped the right front wheel to the sidewall of the divider very slightly while overtaking a truck The bus gave a big jerk and made the vehicles following to do some hard braking, I was visualizing the faces of the awakened passengers at that time . From then on he slowed down to 80's and didn't revive it beyond that till we got diverted in perundhurai junction. But it was nice watching and cursing along with it at that speeds.

Now machines are damn powerful , but i wish it to be in right hands. hope he reached the destination without any other hassle.

[Zed]

Originally Posted by BulZire

Its not review from a passenger but from a outsider/fellow rider by side,

It's a green color B9R Multi Axle and was following and heading him for nearly 130kms between Dharmapuri[NH7] and perundhurai [NH47] around 11 PM to 12.30 AM.

But at one point, he scrapped the right front wheel to the sidewall of the divider very slightly while overtaking a truck The bus gave a big jerk and made the vehicles following to do some hard braking, ... . From then on he slowed down to 80's and didn't revive it beyond that till we got diverted in perundhurai junction.
i wish it to be in right hands. hope he reached the destination without any other hassle.

Incidents such as the one you have described are argument in favour of speed restriction for heavy vehicles. Even with the best of equipment (as was the case here) and a good driver (as seems to be the case here based on your impression of the driver) there is potential for mishaps on account of
(a) bad road conditions
(b) bad road designs (dividers without warnings)
(c) Mistakes of other motorists
(d) Jaywalkers
(e) Animals corssing the roads.
.. its quite a long list really.

The fact of the matter is that braking distance improves significant if speed is reduced from 120 kmph to 90 kmph. Sure the journey will take a bit longer and the bus will get overtaken by other vehicles. The question is - does it really matter considering the fact that the risk and potential intensity of accidents are greatly diminished ?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by BulZire

It's a green color B9R Multi Axle and was following and heading him for nearly 130kms between Dharmapuri[NH7] and perundhurai [NH47] around 11 PM to 12.30 AM.

Was that a green coloured one, or an yellow coloured one? Just curious - when my Kallada G4 was starting off from Madivala (around 9.30pm), a Yellow coloured Kallada B9R was getting ready to start off from there - It would've started around 10pm. But then, that wouldn't have reached Dharmapuri by 11pm. That one was heading to Ernakulam - they have a very tight schedule, and the drivers are actually forced to rip wherever possible.

If it was really a green coloured one, it could be the 9:30pm Alappuzha B9R. They do not have any other B9Rs that could be Dharmapuri by 11pm. (There is one more service, but on September 1, it was a red coloured bus - that one goes to Trivandrum via Salem, Nagercoil - so you cannot follow it upto Perundurai).

[BulZire]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Was that a green coloured one, or an yellow coloured one? Just curious - when my Kallada G4 was starting off from Madivala (around 9.30pm), a Yellow coloured Kallada B9R was getting ready to start off from there - It would've started around 10pm. But then, that wouldn't have reached Dharmapuri by 11pm. That one was heading to Ernakulam - they have a very tight schedule, and the drivers are actually forced to rip wherever possible.

If it was really a green coloured one, it could be the 9:30pm Alappuzha B9R. They do not have any other B9Rs that could be Dharmapuri by 11pm. (There is one more service, but on September 1, it was a red coloured bus - that one goes to Trivandrum via Salem, Nagercoil - so you cannot follow it upto Perundurai).

It is a green color KA registered Kallada B9R for sure and he entered perunduarai town as well, where we got diverted in the circle just before the bus stand. I am not sure about the destination or start time as i had never taken their service before.

May be it was a special service one to serve the long weekend rush.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by BulZire

It is a green color KA registered Kallada B9R for sure, I am not sure about the destination or start time as i had never taken their service before.

May be it was a special service one to serve the long weekend rush.

There were no special services on September 01, 2011. I traveled from Bangalore to Thrissur on the same day in a Kallada G4 B9R. So, this was perhaps the Alappuzha service. Kallada has purchased 8 new B9Rs, and drivers are ripping them these days.

And, BTW, All but 4 of Kallada's 18 B9Rs are registered in Karnataka! 2 are registered in Kerala and 2 in Andhra!

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by silversteed

redBus is messing up things many times these days. I had an experience of having to take another bus, because redBus did not confirm my booking with the operator. The refund took me about 2 weeks time, after calls to their customer support no (39412345) every day, and heated mails every alternate day.

Refund on the way from redbus. It took them 3 working days to respond, after a couple of emails and a phone call. Fair enough. A job well done.

Sort of made up for the sloppy experience with KPN travels. I get the feeling that most goof ups happen at the operator front. It does not help if the travel agent (redbus) is professional in its approach and the operators behave like cavemen.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by binaiks

If it was really a green coloured one, it could be the 9:30pm Alappuzha B9R.

Just curious to ask you.. Is that Alapuzha B9R is a Maroon colored one? one among their first B9R services?

I traveled 3-4 times in that bus when they launched this service.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Just curious to ask you.. Is that Alapuzha B9R is a Maroon colored one? one among their first B9R services?

I traveled 3-4 times in that bus when they launched this service.

The ALP one used to be the Maroon coloured ones earlier - they replaced the buses about 3-4 months ago. Now they are sending two brand new buses on that route. A driver said they are rotating buses very frequently these days.

Yes - that was the first Kallada B9R route.

[ranjithrnath]

Originally Posted by kavu75

Some wrong news are spreading about the causality.
Yeah, there was an accident happened to Kallada bus near Coimbatore(Bus from Pathanamthitta to Bangalore). Both the lorry and bus catches the fire
Bus driver and one more person died in the accident. All the passengers are escaped before fire spreads. I heard this in Asianet news today morning.

Here is the news from Hindu.
Drivers of a bus and a lorry were charred to death, while 48 passengers in the bus had a miraculous escape, when the vehicles caught fire after a collision on the outskirts of Coimbatore early Monday morning.
The bus driver, who was trapped in the cabin hailed from Thrissur in Kerala, while the identity of the lorry driver was yet to be established, they said.
Twenty-one of the 48 bus passengers, who escaped through the emergency exit and also by breaking window panes, sustained minor injuries and were treated as outpatients in the government hospital and a nearby private hospital.
Alerted by staff of a nearby toll plaza, six fire engines rushed to the spot and doused the flames after 90 minutes.
Some students lost their certificates, while some others lost their cellphone, laptops and cash, police said.
48 passengers- how could that be possible ?IIRC the bus was a kallada sleeper cum seater non-ac 2:15 PM DEP PTA-ADR-BGLR

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ranjithrnath

48 passengers- how could that be possible ?IIRC the bus was a kallada sleeper cum seater non-ac 2:15 PM DEP PTA-ADR-BGLR

This is how they accommodate 46 passengers. The image is from Kallada official website for this service.

31 seats and 15 berths.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

This is how they accommodate 46 passengers. The image is from Kallada official website for this service.

31 seats and 15 berths.

But the bus met with accident was a Multi axle Volvo.
plz correct me if I am wrong

[Zed]

Tragic for both drivers but good to hear that all the passengers made it with no major injuries. We can only speculate that a combination of the emergency exit, quick thinking on the part of the crew, presence of mind of the passengers and the design of the cabin probably all added up to avert disaster.

[DWind]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

But the bus met with accident was a Multi axle Volvo.
plz correct me if I am wrong

It was an AshLey Sleeper cum Seater combo. The epaper edition of ToI carried a photo of the charred bus