[airguitar]

Anyone tried taking the new Merc KSRTC buses on a long distance journey ( From Bangalore )? What's your experience been like ? Volvo Airavatas were very good, but are the Mercs worth the additional charge ?

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Anyone tried taking the new Merc KSRTC buses on a long distance journey ( From Bangalore )? What's your experience been like ? Volvo Airavatas were very good, but are the Mercs worth the additional charge ?

I recently took the Mercedes Coach to Chikmagalur & back to Bangalore.
My experience was quite good. Though It was New Bus with hardly 28K kms on odo, Quite comfortable seats, Less engine noise, Amazing Airconditioning, 2 LCD screens, with individual buttons for Speakers(I liked this facility the most, which Volvo doesn't have till now). Mercedes doesn't float as much as that of VOLVO, I took both Front as well as rear seats(almost 3 rows back).
Lighting is just amazing (they have projector lamps).. Speed is also quite good, My GPS constantly showed 100kmph as cruising speed of the bus.

But frankly speaking I would go with Volvo...
The sound of the B7R and the torque is just Nostalgic

[speedsatya]

MB was late in entering this lucrative market which Volvo capitalised on.Even if the MB bus was better than the B7R or the B9R on paper ,it will be difficult for the operators to replace these expensive buses straightaway unless MB has some really visible advantage.

Only large operators like the SRTC's and a select few can try and have a fleet with different makes.Small operators will always find it viable to have a single model fleet.

Also ,B7Rs and B9Rs would be available at a cheap price in the pre-owned market.

MB can only make slow inroads to this segment by targetting new operators or the ones with old vehicles in their fleets.

Outside India ,even in Europe most of the "big" buses that I saw were MB.In Turkey ,where bus travel is a big thing,I hardly came across Volvo buses.

My thoughts

[rangarx]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Spotted this last evening while driving back to bangy on mysore road. Looks like the luxury line up from Swaraj with the Isuzu engine.

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Hey Dudes..

This ISUZU is running Coimbatore - Chennai since Jan first of this year by CONTI.. One of the pioneer OMNI bus operators in TN.

This is not as good as Volvo in NVH and comfort. But compact in dimensions and FE is good I was told on enquiry

[silversteed]

^^^ It's actually in the same league as the ALs run by ABTX and ARC, but with a slightly more powerful engine (230bhp vs 205bhp).

Conti had (not sure if they still have) a Volvo service between Chennai and Coimbatore. It was not that great.

[rangarx]

That Volvo has been succeeded by this Isuzu

[paragsachania]

ISUZUs did make a foray way back in 2009 in Gujarat when I once went to book tickets for Ahmedabad from Rakot. The bigwigs there (Eagle and Patel travels) were banking on ISUZU brand name giving it a higher ranking than their existing Volvo fleet and were charging 25 percent more than the B7Rs.
I didnt get a chance to travel as it was one bus leaving at a non suitable time for my requirement and I settled for Volvo.
As of today, I am being told that ISUZUs are discontinued from their fleet.
Coming to MB, In Sept-Oct 2009, I spotted a neat looking bus parked in Kolhapur with a Karnataka Regn Plate and it was Sharma. I spotted the 'Travel with a Star' sticker and initially thought it was one good body built over an AL Chasis but on close inspection realised it was indeed a three pointed star.
MB had initialy handed over keys of the first 3 MB buses to Neeta, Konduskar and Sharma. Later many private operators and KSRTC included these in their fleet.

[sushrutha]

Now KSRTC has Mercedes buses to Chikmagalur, Shimoga, Mysore, Tirupathi, Chennai etc ...