[AkMar]

Sources in the BEST admit that there has been a significant rise in the rate of breakdown of running buses due to lack of staff to maintain and repair them.

“Did you ever see a BEST bus stranded in the middle of the road in the past? But now this happens every few days and this is leading to major traffic jams in the city,” Sunil Ganacharya, BEST committee member said.


“The rate of bus breakdowns has gone up from two per cent to nine per cent due to poor maintenance. All this is because of lack of adequate staff. The existing staff is overburdened and unable to complete routine maintenance schedules.”

Source.

What a coincidence that today itself I saw 5 buses broken down on my way to college. While travelling to and from college I have never seen so many buses broken down till date.

What the article says is true. In the last couple of years the fleet has grown by more than 1000, but not a single new full fledged depot has been built. In fact the last new depot started functioning in 1999 IIRC. They are content on using bus stations for parking buses at night. A couple of new parking lots too have been constructed. The bus stations and parking lots do not have any maintenance facilities. In effect, the facilities which were meant for maintaining 3000 buses are now being used to maintain 4500 buses. It goes without saying that this will have an adverse effect on maintenance.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I am afraid that most STUs are heavily overstaffed; and feel that BEST is no exception. Based on information available on the wikipedia, BEST has 4 drivers and conductors per bus. I feel that is a bit too much; unless the buses operate at least an avarage 300 KM per day. I have serious doubts that happens.

The overall staff strength of the BEST (and most STUs) is 11.X. That means a whooping 6 non operating staff per bus. IMHO, 2 regular maintenance (oiling, cleaning, greasing, etc) workers per 25 buses and another 2 for non-regular maintenance - skilled mechanics - is adequate.

Apparently, the STUs are overstuffed ... err.. over staffed, with the wrong kind of staff.

[AkMar]

Frankly speaking, I do not know whether BEST is overstaffed or not. But They always give reason of staff shortage for not starting new routes/increasing frequency of existing ones. It is also a fact that maintenance standards have fallen in the last year or two. Especially the body maintenance.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Shortage of operational staff may be true.

Excess of staff is definitely true. All STUs definitely have simply too much office staff sitting idle behind the desk.

[teamveevee]

Tata drives out with AC buses on city roads - Kolkata - City - The Times of India

Tata MarcoPolo Motors Ltd will begin delivery of 240 AC buses this weekend. The first lot of 36 buses has arrived in the city and pre-delivery checks have been completed on 12................................
.....The low-floor buses, with a floor height of 400 mm and 35 seats, are fitted with 240 HP electronic Cummins engine . The buses will also sport automatic transmission which will reduce driver fatigue. The buses will have pneumatic suspension at the front and rear to provide a smooth ride over bumps and potholes. The buses are also fitted with pneumatic doors and passenger information system.

[silversteed]

Yesterday I had a ride in a regular AL Viking fitted with AT (Route no 21H Express, Broadway - Kelambakkam).



Excuse the poor picture quality as I was standing and clicking while the bus was moving.

The ride was better than the MT buses (here, ride means, the way the bus picks up speed, gear shifts, etc.), because they were not lugging the engine as is the general practice in MTC. The transmission selector showed 1 thru 4, and the driver kept it in D. He told me that it's very convenient to drive, but the downside is the low fuel economy - 2-3kmpl agains 4+ kmpl for the MT version.

This particular bus was from the Adyar depot, and one of the 50 buses delivered on a trial basis. Couldn't get to know how old it is (seemed at least 2-3 years old). The fleet no was ADI182 - maybe Chennai BHPians would be able to guess its age.

[Wind]

Originally Posted by santoshnair

nice buses...surprising KESRTC took the initiative in going for AL RE buses....good cost effective solutions ....congrats KESRTC and people of Kerala have a great ride

During my drive to Bangalore today I saw approx. ten new KeESRTC low floor buses at various spots between Valayar and Coimbatore bye-pass.

-- Wind

[dkamath]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Yesterday I had a ride in a regular AL Viking fitted with AT (Route no 21H Express, Broadway - Kelambakkam).

There's one in B'lore too, a "Parisara Vahini", which is the basic offering from BMTC. The bus is attached to Depot-4 (Jayanagar). Sorry, i can't remember the route number now. The bus seems to be 3-4 years old.

[AyAn!]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Tata drives out with AC buses on city roads - Kolkata - City - The Times of India

Yeah,saw that in today's TOI.Sounds good!

Anyways,fleet of Volvo B7RLE/8400s introduced on four important routes by WBSTC in Kokata under the JnnURM scheme.Service is pretty regular at intervals of 15-20 mins! Buses come in shades of orange,blue and red.Four routes are as follows:

• Airport-Tollygunge(via Gariahat/Rashbehari and via Prince Anwar Shah rd.)
• Airport-Howrah stn.
• Airport-Esplanade
• Airport-Santragachi

Also doing duty on the Asansol-Durgapur-Kolkata route are another fleet of 8400s! Moreover,these city buses posing as long distance intercity buses come with window curtains! But seats become a pain after a while.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by dkamath

There's one in B'lore too, a "Parisara Vahini", which is the basic offering from BMTC. The bus is attached to Depot-4 (Jayanagar). Sorry, i can't remember the route number now. The bus seems to be 3-4 years old.

There used to be one on the Suvarna Airport service route no 2 (Satellite bus stand - Airport). But I don't see these buses on the airport routes anymore.

some news info from CV magazine regarding BEST

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by santoshnair

some news info from CV magazine regarding BEST

Is the bus in Picture an AL, Defenitely the square head lamps are that of Tata.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by santoshnair

some news info from CV magazine regarding BEST

I would say, a good move from BEST.

The bus in the pic is a Tata bus, if I'm not mistaken.

But there's a fair chance of the BEST workshop personnel installing rectangular headlamps onto an AL bus - I've seen KeSRTC workshops doing this at times, rarely enough for anyone to spot one.

[hvkumar]

Those are Tata buses in the BEST bus picture. No AL buses in the CNG fleet use square headlamps, and the slats for cooling are peculiar to the Tata CNG buses in BEST fleet. Looks like CV mag put the wrong picture!

[silversteed]

Thanks for clarifying. Aren't these buses plain ugly? The extra contraptions below the bumper add to the horrible looks.

How about the interiors?