[rjstyles69]

Here's a thread discussing the BIG 10 line up of buses. vnk77 please check posts here and here . Both Mercedes bus and the Isuzu powered Swaraj buses have been featured.

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by vnk77

There was a Mercedes bus launched on a trail basis between Bangalore and Mysore. Does any one has some news on that?

Dont know whether its still running since it was launched only for 2 months. But my friend traveled in Corona to Ooty via Mysore. The bus leaves Bangalore at around 10 i think.

Sharma has one Mercedes bus to Mumbai.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by binaiks

I made a ride on these buses a week back. The newer Marcopolos are light years apart from the old one - the new ones are much better and refined than the old ones.Here are some pics of the new marcopolo:

What are the major improvements? Price is less and quality is better, What is the difference between the Blue Colored and Orange colored BMTC Marcopolos? Are they both A/C?
Photo Courtesy: Raghu Autopeida.in

Originally Posted by n.devdath

It was only some arm-twisting in Delhi that made BMTC purchase these buses under the JN-NURM scheme even after they were cancelled after the inital trial runs.

Sir, is n't the other way around? Since Volvo did not took off as expected, so BMTC wanted to have an alternate option? What kind of arm-twisting you are talking about. I guess you never worked in/with a Tata company.
In Delhi, 1000+ Lowfloor CNG already in service, only 8 buses reported issues in 2 years and mostly it was smoke and fumes.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

What are the major improvements? Price is less and quality is better, What is the difference between the Blue Colored and Orange colored BMTC Marcopolos? Are they both A/C?

Like I had been mentioning in all my previous posts on this topic, the new Marcopolo is no where near being compared with a Volvo. Both fall in two segments, and hence have a significant price difference.

There is no difference between the orange coloured ones and the blue ones - both are AC, SLF buses. No bells or whistles (please refer to an earlier discussion on this point - No idea which topic does that post exists now in).

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Sir, is n't the other way around? Since Volvo did not took off as expected, so BMTC wanted to have an alternate option? What kind of arm-twisting you are talking about. I guess you never worked in/with a Tata company.
In Delhi, 1000+ Lowfloor CNG already in service, only 8 buses reported issues in 2 years and mostly it was smoke and fumes.

Oh yeah! Saint TATA never arm-twists. Please spare us these misnomers.

The Volvo Surely took off as expected - if you do stay in Bangalore, you would understand what I mean. You should not expect these higher-end services to run crowded day-in and day-out. They run with more than capacity during peak hours, which make up for the loss during afternoon hours (when the number of buses too are lower).

BMTC is one corporation which is high in ideas (but poor in implementation). The idea of Marcopolo is NOT as an alternative for the Volvo - but to expand AC services to more areas. There are many routes in Bangalore where the Volvo might not generate enough revenue (the main crowd for Volvo comes from IT Professionals). The Volvos are left to serve "posh" routes, and the Marcopolos for the "not-so-posh" routes. One should also remember that on almost all the routes that Marcopolos have now been introduced, the Volvos were operated atleast for a few days.

The fares for Marcopolos has been kept ridiculously low - almost at par with the old Suvarna Fares. (About 1.5 times the ordinary fare).

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by binaiks

The newer Marcopolos too have 4 gears - the same panel as the one you have put up in the image.

Actually there are 5 gears, but only 4 can be selected on the shifter. The earlier marcopolo with numbers upto 3 on the shifter had 4 gears.

[tsk13]

Originally Posted by condor

Adding to Bangalore's large fleet of Volvo's is the Tata Marcopolo's. Shot these pics recently. Notice the emergency exit door : very nicely positioned, IMO.

Attachment 247906

The Side Windows design is different than those in DTC's and looks better.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Oh yeah! Saint TATA never arm-twists. Please spare us these misnomers.

Give some examples, or situations. It is easy to make accusations with out any substantial evidence.

[kadri007]

I think the entry of Tata Marcopolo has filled up the gap between Survana and Volvo's.

Its good to see that these buses have been put in new routes and are running with good crowd.

If you take a example of route 285M, where there are all class of BMTC buses, Tata Marcopolo seems to be crowd puller than volvo.

I hope by introducing these buses even car commuters can opt to travel by theses buses and reduce the traffic.

I feel BMTC has made a right move by taking these buses which are affordable for daily travel for many. People would prefer these buses instead of Auto.

[ajayfame]

I find the BEST Kinglong Buses in Mumbai like a tortoise... These buses i doubt can even reach a speed of 40-50 on an open highway.. The NMMT buses will make you reach your destination in more or less the same time as a normal bus... but the BEST KingLong buses take almost double the time...
and even though the BEST says these buses run on CNG.. they are charging about one and a half times the price that of the NMMT volvo buses...

[benbsb29]

In Bangalore, i have been regularly seeing the Marcopolos along the Sarjapur Road. Not sure if the destination is Sarjapur, or earlier. Also, not sure about where it starts from.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by ajayfame

I find the BEST Kinglong Buses in Mumbai like a tortoise... These buses i doubt can even reach a speed of 40-50 on an open highway.. The NMMT buses will make you reach your destination in more or less the same time as a normal bus... but the BEST KingLong buses take almost double the time...
and even though the BEST says these buses run on CNG.. they are charging about one and a half times the price that of the NMMT volvo buses...

On what basis do you say this? I have travelled in all the three generations of Kinglongs at 90 kph. Similarly I have travelled in the first gen Kinglongs, which are the most sluggish, from Borivali to dadar in 45 minutes. Normal buses too take the same time. Also, the latest Kinglongs do Worli - Borivali in 45-50 minutes via Sea Link. So how did you reach the conclusion that Kinglongs take double the time? It is true that the first generation Kinglongs are very sluggish (I haven't seen a bus more sluggish than this), but what you posted is completely baseless.

[rajtheindian]

Originally Posted by AkMar

Attached pic of the gear lever. The pic is taken in Kinglong, but the supplier for Tata Marcopolo is the same. Only difference is that the marcopolo has 1 gear less. Gears can be manually selected in this system.

In cars with automatic transmission (not all models), you can't change the gear like a manual gearbox, the numbers 1,2,3,4 represents different settings. example if you select 1 or 2 the vehicle will run on low gears only, it won't automatically shift to the higher gear.
may be the same in these buses too

[Ashley2]

Some pics of new fleet of FE SLF Vikings in MTC

[DRIV3R]

Coimbatore's new fleet of JNNurm buses.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Sir, is n't the other way around? Since Volvo did not took off as expected, so BMTC wanted to have an alternate option?

Volvo not successfull in Blore, now thats news to me, ever travelled in route Nos: 333, 500, 600 at any time of the day? Ask the staff about their daily collection and target achievements. You will know the truth.

Originally Posted by teamveevee

What kind of arm-twisting you are talking about. I guess you never worked in/with a Tata company.

Correct, I have never worked in a TATA Company hence do not worship it or any other company overlooking the dirty games of business all companies play worldwide in order to be successfull. Lets get real here and not emotional. For your additional info, here is a link that clearly states that BMTC had rejected the MarcoPolo based on various reasons. It also states that they would buy them only if the prices were reduced substantially. How could TATA "improve" it and reduce the price and also bag the contract with all the fair practices?

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/s...s,high%20costs

Originally Posted by teamveevee

In Delhi, 1000+ Lowfloor CNG already in service, only 8 buses reported issues in 2 years and mostly it was smoke and fumes.

And DTC fined TATA 4 Crore just for smoke and fumes Isnt it time things were re looked into.

New and improved Marcopolo, sure, just like the new and improved Safari which continues to be more citric than any other product in its category.