[TKMCE]

Bus utilisation is actually quite low in many of the overnight routes specially like Chennai Bangalore. The reason is either crew operating hour constraints (as the same crew has to take it back generally in a route like Hyderabad Bangalore or Chennai Bangalore) or lack of takers for day time services on longer inter state routes.

In the 1980s and 1990s KeralaSRTC had a crewing system which was interesting and definitely pushed up the bus utilisation without affecting crew fatigue.

An example was their 0330 Trivandrum Thekkady Fast Passenger. This was operated not from the Trivandrum Depot or Kumily Depot (I don't think the latter existed then) but from Chengannur depot which was an enroute depot. One set of crew did Chengannur Trivandrum Chengannur and another did Chengannur Thekkady Chengannur. The conductors had to give a handover so the intermediate halt used to take about 20 minutes but otherwise the bus rarely stopped for breaks. The advantage with this system was that bus utilisation was better and buses if required could be swapped at the intermediate stop. There were quite a few services like this, another was a Kanyakumari Guruvayoor Express which was operated by Cherthala depot. However I believe this system has now stopped and most of the buses are operated from depots at either end which is not ideal as chances of crew fatigue is high. I believe there was a Trivandrum Vazhikadavu (after Nilambur) route which was operated with a single driver using a bus of the Trivandrum depot and there we complaints in the media at one point that the crew was not getting enough rest before starting their journey back to Trivandrum

For KaSRTC I believe in addition to extending some of their Volvos from Chennai and Hyderabad to Mysore, many of their inter state Volvos are used on the Bangalore Mysore route as well thus pushing up utilisation.

[srimath]

APSRTC also used to run the Hitech coaches which reach hyd in the morning as city buses with hyd based crew till 2007(when I last used them) which used to improve the bus utilisation. I am not sure when this was discontinued.

[speedsatya]

Speak about utilization , some operators on the Bangalore - Mangalore - Kundapur route run their B9Rs throughout the day. These buses start around 10-11 pm from Bangalore to reach Kundapur by 9 am. The same buses start on the return leg at around 11 am to reach bangalore by 9pm , only to start again.

But this type of quick turnaround only puts a bigger pressure on the crew to stick to time schedules and hence speed to make up for any lost time. God knows when they stop for maintainence checks. All KSRTC B7Rs that I travelled in the last 1 one year had their " check engine ...." Or " check brake ...." Seen in the display

[sa_kiran]

My wife travelled Thane-Pune last week, by Shivneri, MH 12 FC 3537. As the bus approached Airoli toll booth, the driver put his hands up and said that he does not have money for toll. The passengers pooled money and paid the toll!

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

My wife travelled Thane-Pune last week, by Shivneri, MH 12 FC 3537. As the bus approached Airoli toll booth, the driver put his hands up and said that he does not have money for toll. The passengers pooled money and paid the toll!

I thought that Government Busses were exempt from paying toll, they do not pay tax too, that is the subsidy that the Government passes on to the passengers in the form of reduced ticket costs

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

I thought that Government Busses were exempt from paying toll, they do not pay tax too, that is the subsidy that the Government passes on to the passengers in the form of reduced ticket costs

Government buses pay both Toll and Tax. Toll is exempted only when the government makes a specific government order for the same - but all NHAI tolls are applicable to government buses as well. STUs take normal monthly passes for toll gates which they pass more than once in a day.

Some states waive off Road Tax, while some states provide concessions. Some STUs like KeSRTC always default on it as well. They need to pay tax in their homestate - but need not pay it when they enter another state. The tax of that state is covered in an interstate reciprocal agreement, which allows buses of the STU of the other state to enter this state without paying tax.

[rajtheindian]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Speed governors can be and will be tampered with. Unless somebody like Rishiraj Singh takes charge and enforces this rule, it'll be gone with the wind.

Can the manufacture do something about it? May be setting up the speed restriction in the ECU, restrict the fuel flow once it cross certain speed limits!!

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by rajtheindian

Can the manufacture do something about it? May be setting up the speed restriction in the ECU, restrict the fuel flow once it cross certain speed limits!!

Speed limit set my manufacturer can't be tampered. They are set and locked in ECU. You need to visit service centre for unlocking that.

[bejoy]

Businessman A P Prakash, who was sitting in the last row of a KSRTC bus travelling from the city to Kottayam in Kerala, was thrown off his seat and rendered paralysed due to the driver's recklessness

Speeding at over 80 kmph in the middle of the night, a semi-luxury bus went over a road-hump. The driver presumed that the passengers would be in deep slumber and none would crib.

Little did the driver realise that he was destroying a family: Businessman A P Prakash, who was seated in the last row, ended up being paralysed from toes to neck. The impact was such that Prakash, who was thrown up from the seat, hit the ceiling of the bus and crashed into a support-pole inside the bus.

With over Rs 4 lakh being spent and Prakash continuing to be bedridden following injuries to his spine and bones, life has turned topsy-turvy for his family -- the sole reason being the driver's negligence.

More here...
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/banga...w/25564494.cms

Definitely a negligence from the driver's part, if he is a regular on the route. I was once travelling to Bangalore in Rajahamsa, in the last seat and was tossed in the air, when the bus went over a hump at speed. Banged my head on the ceiling and then crashed landed on my back to the seat. After reading this news, now feel that I was just plain lucky.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by binaiks

The tax of that state is covered in an interstate reciprocal agreement, which allows buses of the STU of the other state to enter this state without paying tax.

i've heard from a SETC conductor that this is a 'km coverage' based agreement.

ie: If KA border-Salem Vaibhav KaSRTC covers 170 km, then TN can operate bus(es) for the same distance in KA roads.

[joshguy]

Hi All

I had been to Kodai last weekend on the Parveen travels bus and the trip was quite satisfactory.
It was a non ac AL bus and it should be an year old bus (TN21al7282/7283)

My ratings
Bus Cleanliness 9.5/10
Time keep up - 9.5/10
Crew - 9/10
Seating comfort - on ward journey - 9.5/10 - Return 5/10

While going i got the front seat so it was very comfortable (I am 6.2 ft) and return i got the last row and in those seats the push back is only 2 inches unlike 6-10 inches in other seats due to rear windshield .

the worst part is the corner seats in the last row, they have further limitation of 1 inch push back as they are in the corner and seats cannot seat properly due to curved shape of the body.

[TheARUN]

Another bus now catches fire, the similarities this time, same Volvo multi-axle, hitting a divider, tyre bursting, diesel tank exploding and the whole bus going up in flames

Happened at 2:30 AM near Hubli, it was from National Travels running Bangalore-Mumbai, there were 40 in the bus, 7 confirmed dead and 20 injured with the death toll likely to go up

Got all details from TV9 news today morning

[ramzsys]

Such accidents happening is not entirely unexpected. I have witnessed the following sequel several times when traveling in Leyland/Tata based intercity buses:

Originally Posted by ramzsys

One thing which happened during both onward and return trip is:

1) Bus doing about 80-90 kmph in the fast lane.
2) A slow moving truck appearing ahead.
3) A speeding Volvo B9R in the left lane flashing headlights(from the back)
4) This bus braking like anything and avoiding the truck/Volvo.

Scary!

In fact, it is not wrong to say that it is the truck drivers and State transport bus drivers in the road who are (passively) ensuring safe travel for the Volvo passengers!

This tendency of the Volvo driver to not break the speed/momentum results in gruesome accidents.

[audioholic]

The owner of National travels now plays safe by blaming a technical issue in volvo buses. He spoke to TV9 and put the blame on the manufacturer.

Two buses catching fire in a short span of time points out to increasing carelessness and overconfidence on the drivers part rather than technical errors. Yes it cannot be ruled out but I dont think Volvo are so careless about compromising safety and design. Afterall they are not some wayside coach fabricator to cut corners. There was a guest at TV9 who spoke well about the whole transport system and his points were very valid, which were

1. Rash driving
2. Lack of awareness
3. Sacrificing the emergency door for two extra seats
4. Driver error.

These things have been discussed here before and now I think they are resulting in such mishaps.

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by audioholic

The owner of National travels now plays safe by blaming a technical issue in volvo buses

There is something wrong with Volvo and the way their busses are designed. Suffice to say, a similar incident with a Tata/Ashok Leyland would not have resulted in the bus catching fire.

There seems to be an Achilles heel with Volvo, a Volvo bus hitting a divider at speed = fire. Rear engine busses are inherently unsafe because of a rear weight bias, there is no engine block in the front to absorb impact and the front passengers become the crumple zone! The bus is suitable for expressway driving and that is why most busses worldwide are with rear engine layout, but when you encounter obstacles, it becomes unsafe or rather not as safe as a front engined coach

This unfortunately looks like the last nail in the coffin for Volvo, 15 years of stellar performance in India and now it all seems to be going the Tata Nano way, with vehicles catching fire