[Transsenger]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

This is to be used in Madurai Airport by Spice Jet.
230HP CRS engine with roof mounted AC.

Nice work by AL. AL should have used this headlights on DTC ULE also.

[silversteed]

Well this one looks like the RE LF buses delivered to KeSRTC, but with HLs from the AL NewGen cab and white wheel cups.

I echo julupani's comments on the wheelcups and HLs

Rest of it looks fine. But 230hp for a bus that transports people for a very short distance - is it really needed? Why not fit the same engine in long dist buses and promote them instead of lower (read under powered/torqued) motors? just a thought

[julupani]

Yeah that is true? Why do you need a 230hp engine for an airport transport bus is trully unimaginable? Though even TML provide a 180hp enigine on their airport transport buses.

Also, no one yet answered my question where do ALL build all their buses??

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by julupani

Yeah that is true? Why do you need a 230hp engine for an airport transport bus is trully unimaginable? Though even TML provide a 180hp enigine on their airport transport buses.

I thought Tata Tarmac coaches used by GoAir, SpiceJet etl at Mumbai airport are 1613s. They also looks wider (and longer) and rides really slow(lower gears). With bags and passengers, these buses carry more load than a normal bus. So probably a good idea to have bigger engines?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by julupani

Also, no one yet answered my question where do ALL build all their buses??

ALL has their own bus building facility at Alwar. In addition they have OE Supplier contracts with Veera Vahana, Azad, Alma Motors, Irizar-TVS, etc.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by julupani

Dont know about the clean design. Somethings that I didnt like about the design.

1. The wheel caps look too tacky. The standard matt finish wheels used by TML and Volvo look much classier.

Those could be requirement of Spice jet rather than provided by AL.

Originally Posted by julupani

3. The window arrangement around the driver's door is really odd.

I feel they are better than Marcopolo. More complex driver side quarter windows. Very less visibity from that side. Several drivers complain about that. AL arrangement is much better what TM had made

Originally Posted by julupani

4. The RVM seem like an afterthought.

Yes, I too felt the same.

Originally Posted by julupani

5. The headlight seem like overstyling on a bus with as simple a design as this. Though they have just used the light fixtures they use everywhere else to save costs.

I have nothing to say about over stying or a simple styling. I felt they appeal good.

Originally Posted by julupani

Who builds these buses for ALL, Do they have any dedicated bus body building facilities??

Its built by AL in its Alwar facility.
When I entered inside I could feel the freshness inside the bus like when we enter into a show room car. The grab handles/rails were really good to grab as they were painted with soft touch paint.
Moreover they were brought by container with utmost care

Originally Posted by silversteed

Well this one looks like the RE LF buses delivered to KeSRTC, but with HLs from the AL NewGen cab and white wheel cups.

But they were built by Veera.
As a additional info AL bagged the complete order from KL and RJ for RE buses under JNnurm

[julupani]

That is a pretty long list, would it be better from a quality point of view to be building all their buses at one or may be two locations, to have better control on quality.

Especially as these builders dont seem to enjoy a very large amount of bus-building contracts from ALL, so as to give enough importance to the ALL contracts. It would be better to have a good relationship with one or 2 builders, something like TML's relationship with ACGL.

ALL is really lagging behind in the building of fully built buses, where Tata has taken such a massive lead that they are catching up to ALL in the overall bus market.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by julupani

That is a pretty long list, would it be better from a quality point of view to be building all their buses at one or may be two locations, to have better control on quality.

No they are used as additional resources as only when capacity exceeds with Irizar TVS.
More over I can certainly say the quality of buses built by Veera Vahana, SMK are definetely better to the ones built by ACGL, though TML have it as a singe point source. I also would like to quote only with the arrival Marcopolo, TM had got a fresh new order which they were happy in execution also.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by julupani

2. The wheels seem to be buried deep in the wheel wells, the bus seems to have been made knowingly wide.

Originally Posted by teamveevee

I thought Tata Tarmac coaches used by GoAir, SpiceJet etl at Mumbai airport are 1613s. They also looks wider (and longer)

Perhaps they are made wider than normal. Take a look at the Cobus 3000 (pic hosted in T-BHP in this same thread, posted by foby.sebastian).

It's much much wider than a normal bus.

Originally Posted by teamveevee

...and rides really slow(lower gears).

About the speed, don't they have any restrictions on speed on the tarmac?

Originally Posted by julupani

3. The window arrangement around the driver's door is really odd.

I prefer this arrangement than the TM buses. It's on the lines of Volvo. A clean door with a decently sized sliding window. The driver's door and window in the TM city buses in Chennai give a feeling that the driver is caged. Claustrophobic I'd say.

[julupani]

Dont know about the city buses in Chennai, but I think the Tata Marcopolo AC buses have a much better window config around the driver's door.

The ALL AC intercity design has a pretty simple problem with its design. Its just too boxy, there is nothing to releive the long straight lines. No curves or kinks anywhere makes it a little to bland and dull. The Tata MarcoPolo has some curves on the front end. Windows ending at multiple levels, and that kink at the end all help the deisgn.

Volvo takes the help of some graphics, and a few other things, but personally from a design point of view the TMML bus is the best on the Indian city roads as of now.

Pic courtesy Wikipedia.

[silversteed]

@julupani, take a look at the pic here


See the way the driver's door and the window are designed? From inside it's really difficult to get a clear view of the RVM. That's one of the issues pointed out by MTC drivers, among other things.

The pic you have posted above is a better design but I would still prefer the AL and Volvo driver side door and window arrangement.

Looks are subjective

[julupani]

I agree the RVM placement in the FE bus could be better. In fact in both the RE and FE design the RVM should be placed in front of the windscreen for good visibility. This is but a pretty simple fix in the design.

Also I think what I complained about in the ALL design is not clear to people. I have no issues with the door of the ALL or the driver windows, or with those of Volvo. My issue is the window or glass placement around the driver door of ALL, the Volvo bus design has a clean design there too.

This picture should highlight what really irks me about the design, which over all seems to be like a tacky badly put together design, though with the correct placement of the RVMs. The window panes dont seem to have any sort of uniformity at all, all of them of different sizes.

[cs_rajesh]

Cobus, especially at the bangalore airport makes it a good looking ground transport arrangement. Also the space inside is great. It appears to have very low ground clearance and therefore will it take to rough and pot hole ridden roads of our cities? I also agree with the earlier post that this bus being wider than normal and more glass surface makes it appealing .

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

But they were built by Veera.

Not just Veera. Some buses for KeSRTC were also built by Prakash. Today spotted a few JnNURM buses parked at the ALL yard near Ernakulam with "TN-70-TC" numbers. There were no body builder markings on the bus. Have heard of some buses being brought from somewhere north of Bangalore as well - not sure of he body builder.

[greatmana2000]

Originally Posted by julupani

I agree the RVM placement in the FE bus could be better. In fact in both the RE and FE design the RVM should be placed in front of the windscreen for good visibility. This is but a pretty simple fix in the design.

Also I think what I complained about in the ALL design is not clear to people. I have no issues with the door of the ALL or the driver windows, or with those of Volvo. My issue is the window or glass placement around the driver door of ALL, the Volvo bus design has a clean design there too.

This picture should highlight what really irks me about the design, which over all seems to be like a tacky badly put together design, though with the correct placement of the RVMs. The window panes dont seem to have any sort of uniformity at all, all of them of different sizes.

The driver looks at the RVM through the windshield and not through driver side door . That is why you have the RVM at the edge of the windscreen . Sitting in the driver seat , the rear view will be good .