[coolclouds]

I think Paulo and SreeDurgamba (Booking at Ashirwad) are the only operators other than KSRTC towards Mangalore/Manipal route presently. Looks like the demand especially on weekdays are less as there are lot of trains available in Konkan Railways.

There were lot of services from Durgamba, Sree Durgamba, CPC, Ideal, Indira, Nirmala etc etc during 2001 when the train travel was interrupted due to Kadalundi accident.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I think Paulo and SreeDurgamba (Booking at Ashirwad) are the only operators other than KSRTC towards Mangalore/Manipal route presently. Looks like the demand especially on weekdays are less as there are lot of trains available in Konkan Railways.

There are hardly any decent options from Ernakulam to Mangalore. KeSRTC runs on Super Fast, while KaSRTC sends an Airavat. Then the other options are Sri Durgamba's 2x2 Non-AC and the Paulo Volvo!

I am sure the demand is not that bad - but as you said, the load during weekdays might be very poor. There are operators doing Ernakulam-Kozhikode(UFO)/Kannur(UFO/Asoka)/Kanhangad (Forgot the name of the operator) - they run with decent loads though.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by binaiks

There are operators doing Ernakulam-Kozhikode(UFO)/Kannur(UFO/Asoka)/Kanhangad (Forgot the name of the operator) - they run with decent loads though.

I remember seeing "Sisira" and "Sheraton" reaching Ernakulam early morning.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I remember seeing "Sisira" and "Sheraton" reaching Ernakulam early morning.

Yes.. Sisira goes to Payyannur, IIRC. I had seen a Sisira bus parked somewhere around Payyannur during my drive to Kasaragod in July this year. I haven't seen the Sheraton bus.

There are a few operators who operate regular trips from Ernakulam towards Kozhikode/Kannur - that says a bit about the demand in the route.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Yes.. Sisira goes to Payyannur, IIRC. I had seen a Sisira bus parked somewhere around Payyannur during my drive to Kasaragod in July this year. I haven't seen the Sheraton bus.

There are a few operators who operate regular trips from Ernakulam towards Kozhikode/Kannur - that says a bit about the demand in the route.

There are many regular private buses from Kaloor bus stand after 7pm (Originating from Kottayam/Pala etc) towards Kannur/Bandadukka/Vellarikkundu/Iritty/Kanjhangad/Batheri etc etc. Some of them offer semi sleeper seats. Just read that Peters introduced an A/c bus on their Kottayam-xxx regular service.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Sheraton operates from Payyannur. Have travelled on that several times. Some of these intra state non stage carriages even rescheduled their arrival at ekm so as to enable passengers to connect with the Vanchinad express from Ernakulam South railway station @ 5.00 AM. (It was 5.50 earlier - now it is the Guruvayoor - TVM intercity which departs at 5.50 AM).

Sheraton the bus was owned by somebody else; the logistics at Payyannur were handled by a theatre owner - cum lodge owner (now the theatre is closed and the lodge - cum - restaurant is managed by one of his brotehrs).

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

It is via Marthandam, Nagerkoil and Tirunelveli. I think it is the extension of their Madurai Hyderabad service.

The timing for Hyd-Madurai is still 5:30PM and Hyd-Tvm is 2:30PM so I think this is a new bus route and not the extension of Madurai bus.

People who want to visit Kanayakumari can opt for this bus because there is no direct train from hyderabad to kanyakumari. And Sabari express to Tvm takes 30 hours and from there it takes another 2.5 hours to reach Kanyakumari by bus. So its around 33 hours. But this bus takes only 19-20 hours to Nagercoil and Kanyakumari is just 20 Kms from here.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Do they allow passengers to get down at Mangalore? There used to be a Kochi-Mumbai KingFisher Flight with a stop at Mangalore. When i travelled in that once, allmost all passengers from Kochi got down at Mangalore.

Off topic - The KF flight you talked about was operating BOM-Kochi-Mangalore-BOM. So most of the people which got down at Mangalore were Mumbai Managlore pax who remained on board at the transit halt at Kochi. Similarly in the night they ran the flight in reverse - BOM-Mangalore-Kochi-BOM.

There was also a TVM-COK-Calicut-Mangalore flight on an ATR again by KF which continued on to Goa.

Back to BUS TRAVEL

[ecenandu]

Yesterday I tried the Parveen's latest offering the 'Snooze bus' from Chennai - Trichur. It was my first sleeper bus experience and boy I was surprised. I never thought it could be this comfortable.

Lately there were a few accidents involving sleeper bus and every one was complaining about the non availability of emergency exit. But Corona engineers had done their home work pretty well, It had four emergency exit windows. Two on the roof, one behind (the rear windshield) and an emergency door.

They provided a pillow and a blanket, the bed was comfortable. Every thing was clean and tidy. I also got their regular complimentary kit which included water bottle, Aavin milk shake and a packet of cream biscuit.

I borded the bus from Koyembedu at 7:30PM and reached Trichur at 7:30 AM, they stopped at Vellore for dinner at around 11 PM.

I had a chat with the drivers and when enquired about the bus, they told it is good. But cannot be compared to Volvo and Merc. He also told it can easily do 110 Kmph.

The ride was good, the bus was soaking up the bumps pretty well. The bus was doing 90 - 100 Kmph consistently. But when I tried their Merc it was doing 120Kmph whenever possible.

Engine noise was pretty audible inside the cabin but not irritating.There was some strange noise from the bus while braking, could be from the retarder.

Each berth is having individual LCD monitors and a speaker, there was also a switch to turn off the speaker.It also had a LED reading lamp.The AC vent does not have directional control and mine was already broken.

This bus journey really surprised me with the comfort I got. The one thing I really hated while traveling in semi sleeper was, if the person in front of you try to recline to the maximum the seat often foul with your knee and the center arm rest that you have to share. While in this you don't have this problem and you can always find a good sleeping position and not a compromised one like in the semi sleeper.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Off topic - The KF flight you talked about was operating BOM-Kochi-Mangalore-BOM. So most of the people which got down at Mangalore were Mumbai Managlore pax who remained on board at the transit halt at Kochi.

Oh i did not know that...I was suprised to see so many people getting down at Mangalore, this makes sense...
Back to buses....

[deepclutch]

I see Sree Durgamba's Kanjirappilly to Mangalore Bus Proceeding to Ernakulam from Muvattupuzha. are they taking North Parur route-NH17 route for taking passengers from Ernakulam as well?

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by deepclutch

I see Sree Durgamba's Kanjirappilly to Mangalore Bus Proceeding to Ernakulam from Muvattupuzha. are they taking North Parur route-NH17 route for taking passengers from Ernakulam as well?

Think they are going via Trichur from Kochi. I have seen their tickets on Redbus sometime back offered from Trichur.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Yesterday I tried the Parveen's latest offering the 'Snooze bus' from Chennai - Trichur..

More fotos of Snooze.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by rejoycjohn

... Hyderabad to Bangalore with Orange transports...

To be honest , I was very much disappointed with the comfort that the bus offered us . We were sitting in the last but oneth row , and booked it only because of our experiences with volvo buses in the same seat .
The ride was very bumpy and we were almost thrown in the air at almost every single undulation on the road . The side swaying made the ride even worse while negotiating curves .

The only thing that I loved was the gear knob which was very classy compared to the long stick in the volvos

I find it hard to believe! I travelled in an Orange Tours' Merc multi-axle bus on friday, from Bangalore to Hyd. The bus was very comfortable, but my seat was towards the middle (F3 to be exact) - so I had a better ride perhaps. Anyway, their staff's behaviour and facilities are unmatched. The best part was the cleanliness.

What I didn't like about the bus was that it was noisy, compared to a Volvo. The retarder whine could be heard very clearly.

The gearshift lever was slick, more car like, than a bus/truck. The bus seemed better built inside, minus the luggage rack, which is too too narrow.

*****

I returned to Bangalore from Hyd in a Dhanunjaya Travels' Executive AC Sleeper. For once, I found a proper sleeper bus. The insides were like that of a Railway 2-tier AC coach, so just 24 passengers, and the bus crew. It was a Veera Vahana built body on an AL 12M. Rear Air suspension and Weveller at the front. Engine driven AC. The staff were not so cordial as with Orange, but much better than many others. Ride was smooth. After Jadcherla, it was flying low - the average speed would be 80kmph+ and the bus was easily cruising at 100kmph+ speeds. The passenger saloon was well insulated. Engine noise was no louder than that of a car. The lower berths didn't have separate AC vents, but the temperature inside was set to a comfortable 24 degrees Centigrade, that wasn't too cold. However, there were separate plug points for each berth, along with a small pouch to hold a mobile phone.

The plug point was extremely important for me, as I could use my laptop to watch a movie until they stopped the crappy idiotic movie that was played on the common LCD screen. There's only one screen per compartment (4 berths in one). The speakers were pathetic. There was just one small lamp for each berth, I would prefer a proper reading lamp, like the ones found in Mercs to this normal lamp.

The bus' interiors were a mix of white and orange, that looked classy. Good finish, perhaps better than that of Prakash bodies. It was a new bus, with just 18500~ km on the odo. The AC controls were in a sleek soft-touch panel, near the instrument console. I was surprised to see such a high-quality dash. The new integrated instrument console from AL and this panel looked good.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

More fotos of Snooze.

Ashly, first time I am seeing a separator in a double berth. Looks nice but how good is the space for the window berth?