[smashnerd]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Its an iT09. Have attached a picture (Image courtesy: Dhandapani K, on Picasa).



They run via Pondy to fill up their seats.

The Kallada runs a KL-45 bus, Parveen runs a KL-07 and Sona runs a KL-41 bus.

Parveen has a B7R registered with KL-07 mark - this bus makes weekend extra runs.

What make is the other bus in the picture?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by smashnerd

What make is the other bus in the picture?

Isuzu. The operator is "Sangita". The buses are marked "Viji".

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Its an iT09. Have attached a picture (Image courtesy: Dhandapani K, on Picasa).

Thanks for the nice pic.
A great relief from similar looks of SMK,Veera.

[gold class]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

I've seen them SAM busses too. They are carrying around corporate employees or foreigners during weekdays and now I know that they do trips on the weekend

They must be saving a lot on taxes since they do not have to take permanent permits and can make do with temporary ones

Indeed they need to pay weekly taxes at RTO check post. It works out in this manner. If it is a trip with tourist (same pax being dropped and picked up across borders) then there is only need for taking a temporary permit. But if it is carrying passengers(mainly special buses) with tickets booked /have issued a boarding pass then they need to pay tax. Some times what happens is the operators take passengers saying that they are tourist.But RTO can check the vehicle and if he gets either a boarding pass/ticket from any one of the pax he can fine them two times the tax amount.
So most of them take safer side of paying tax than paying fine. Thats the reason special buses are charged higher.Weekly tax for a 45 seater can come up to TN-12000,KL-6500 approx.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

You may call Tiruvalla depot (0469 2602945) and ask for the cell number of today's crew.

I finally caught this bus, but caught it from Trichur. Waited for a while at lwaye hoping to catch this if it had spare seats, but till 6 PM there was no sign of it and since I new the 2000 Trichur BLR GLobus was operating and had spare seats , boarded a EKM kozhikode super fast at 6 PM. Reached at 0730 and immediately afterwards the Tiruvalla bus came - it had spare seats. Reached only aroud 6 30 at Majestic as there was a problem with the pax door at Salem (not closing). Bt the crew managed to fix it after about half an hour.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I finally caught this bus, but caught it from Trichur. Waited for a while at lwaye hoping to catch this if it had spare seats, but till 6 PM there was no sign of it...

Did you not call them? This is just for our information, if the call system works.

Thankfully, both the Thrissur Globus services have been restored.

[TKMCE]

No I didn't since I was monitoring the KeSRTC website and just before I left home I saw both the 8 PM and 9 PM Globus was operating and both had plenty of seats left. I had given a cut oiff time till 6 PM at Alwaye bye pass till when I would wait for the Tiruvalla bus so that if it didnt turn up or had no seats I still can make it to Trichur by 8 PM, so tha is why I took the superfast. A Supaa bus for Coimbatore came around 5.30 for CJB and it was virtually empty as well

[nkrishnap]

Last week I had a chance to travel from Bangalore - Mangalore and Udupi - Bangalore routes on the KSRTC Airavat. B7R 9400

Both the buses were new. Bangalore - Mangalore (KA 01 - F - 9076) and Udupi - Bangalore(KA 01 - F - 9087).

Both the buses took the Shiradi ghat route. The poor road condition has taken toll on the Udupi bus already. The AC hose and the mounting clamps where rattling away to glory in the middle part of the bus.

A thing or two to note were.

1) On both the buses the driver and conductor were friendly and courteous.

2) Both the buses were clean both interior and exterior (Not sure if the bus was washed prior to the trip). The driver did mention that he had to go the routine checks for the trip and he had to report at 4 pm for the 8 pm trip. He said the maintenance for these volvo buses are really high which runs on the Mangalore route due to the poor road condition.

There is a mandate now that these drivers are expected to get a mileage of not less than 3 kmpl on any of the routes.

By the way saw 2 older B7Rs the non CRDi version breakdown on the Shiradi ghat.

1) Breakdown due to diesel leakage from the fuel line near the engine.
2) Breakdown due to tappet and belt issue.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Last week I had a chance to travel from Bangalore - Mangalore and Udupi - Bangalore routes on the KSRTC Airavat. B7R 9400

B
There is a mandate now that these drivers are expected to get a mileage of not less than 3 kmpl on any of the routes.

By the way saw 2 older B7Rs the non CRDi version breakdown on the Shiradi

Is this for the Volvo fleet - because in the KErala SRTC depots all over the place there are boards proclaiming a 5 kmpl target (They run I think a grand total of 3 - or is it 4 Volvos?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Is this for the Volvo fleet - because in the KErala SRTC depots all over the place there are boards proclaiming a 5 kmpl target

That target is only for their regular fleet. And they've been successful in raising their mileage to about 3.84 to 4.24kmpl recently. IIRC, depots are awarded for improving their efficiency as well.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

(They run I think a grand total of 3 - or is it 4 Volvos?

They run a "GRAND" total of 3 Volvos. In addition, they run 49 City Volvos (8400s) as well. [18 in Trivandrum and 31 in Kochi].

The city volvos returned a mileage of 2.24 in Trivandrum and 2.48 in Kochi (For the month of December). I am told that the 9400s are also performing around the same figures. (A bit better, as they say).

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

There is a mandate now that these drivers are expected to get a mileage of not less than 3 kmpl on any of the routes.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Is this for the Volvo fleet - because in the KErala SRTC depots all over the place there are boards proclaiming a 5 kmpl target (They run I think a grand total of 3 - or is it 4 Volvos?

Originally Posted by binaiks

That target is only for their regular fleet. And they've been successful in raising their mileage to about 3.84 to 4.24kmpl recently. IIRC, depots are awarded for improving their efficiency as well.

The city volvos returned a mileage of 2.24 in Trivandrum and 2.48 in Kochi (For the month of December). I am told that the 9400s are also performing around the same figures. (A bit better, as they say).

I don't understand, what exactly is "drivers expected to maintain a 5 kmpl mileage".

How are they expected to ensure the vehicle gives an average?!


And true to nkrishnap' observation : the roads that run on the Bangalore-Udupi/manipal/mangalore route thru' shiradi ghat are in shambles. Every now and then, there is a breakdown.

And you will always see repairs done with local (not original Volvo) spares/accessories.

They don't bother maintaining the vehicles properly and then rap the driver for the mileage the vehicles gives!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I don't understand, what exactly is "drivers expected to maintain a 5 kmpl mileage".

How are they expected to ensure the vehicle gives an average?!

The driver can certainly contribute to the mileage by proper driving. Why do you feel that the driver cannot contribute? A properly driver bus will certainly give better mileage than a rashly driven bus.

In Kerala, with the introduction of a mileage target, the accident rates came down from 0.39 to 0.19 per Lakh kms operated. This is because the drivers changed their style of driving - hence the corporation saves on fuel as well as expenses on accidents!

Originally Posted by libranof1987

And you will always see repairs done with local (not original Volvo) spares/accessories.

If you are talking of KaSRTC, they have an AMC with Volvo, and hence all spares are the responsibility of Volvo. If there is a breakdown, Volvo responds to the call and takes action to get the bus back to road.

[DWind]

Originally Posted by binaiks

In Kerala, with the introduction of a mileage target, the accident rates came down from 0.39 to 0.19 per Lakh kms operated. This is because the drivers changed their style of driving - hence the corporation saves on fuel as well as expenses on accidents!

Hope they could do similar for a private buses too. Let the operators see reason as to how much they could save if the bus is driven properly. Maybe because the operators are fragmented they might not see much savings, but even then it would be better than earlier.

[coolclouds]

TNSTC monitor the mileage constantly. I have seen names and mileages of best and worst drivers (and driver explanation for low fuel efficiency) mentioned in a big board while fueling at Coimbatore depot.

[benbsb29]

Some of the private operators too seem to be playing the mileage game these days. Kallada multiaxle Volvos were taking it real easy on the upshifts and also overtaking bits the last time i travelled. I had asked the question for the same on this thread earlier.