Team-BHP - City Buses of various STUs all over India

I second Velu. AFAIK, eventhough Volvos are crowded, they are not profitable and are making a DIP in the overall BMTC profit, which pushed them to introduce low cost, reliable AC buses which will attract the Volvo commuters.
TATA has been loyal to its customers, not sure if any other Vehicle manufacture ever offered buy back guarantee and would have removed vehicle when it found no good sales figures( I still love ZEN).

I second Velu. AFAIK, eventhough Volvos are crowded, they are not profitable and are making a DIP in the overall BMTC profit, which pushed them to introduce low cost, reliable AC buses which will attract the Volvo commuters.
I travelled in Marco few times and seems to be good for city commutation, and feels its the right one as high power is of no use if not for long trips. Volvos are meant for long journeys, and its foolish to compare with Marco.

TATA has been loyal to its customers, not sure if any other Vehicle manufacturer ever offered buy back guarantee and if not TATA, would have removed vehicle when it found no good sales figures( I still love ZEN).

Quote:

Originally Posted by shamanth (Post 1695791)

1) AC is pretty bad in Marcopolo(MP), sometime i have seen MP completely fogged inside the glass. AC is powerful in volvo.
2) MP power is low. MP buses moves at the speed of ordinary buses. Engine noise you hear fail to infuse any confidence. Volvo can Overtake almost any powerful cars in the road.
3) Low noise inside Volvo compared to MP.
4) Bumpy ride in MP compared to Volvo.

Maybe because of all there the intial cost and good milage make MP to charge you less. So MP is a segment between volvo and ordinary buses, cannot be compared to volvo as replacement.

Thanks shamanth for comparison. first thing came in to my mind looking at Marco polo was that, surely these wont have ride quality of Volvo.

any ways next time when i sit in Marco polo, i will make sure that i will go in with neutral mind set.:thumbs up

Unprofitable Volvo city buses are what a lot of Kerala Road Transport officials and govt. ministers are cribbing about here as well.

We recently got new Volvo low floor city buses introduced at TVM. They ply between Trivandrum City and the IT park - Technopark. In the morning and evening during the regular IT workers commuting hours the buses are full. However in the hours between that the patronage is very less.

Couple of related links - courtesy technoparktoday.com
Volvo buses introduced to Technopark | Technopark Today - Technopark Blog,Jobs,News,Events,Companies,People,Photos,goss ips
Techies say - Use the Bus! | Technopark Today - Technopark Blog,Jobs,News,Events,Companies,People,Photos,goss ips

I think one of the problems is the lack of application of real time conditions. The timings of the buses should be altered based on traffic patterns. Here the buses are given a fixed timing from A to B irrespective of traffic density. In the US where I regularly used a bus service for a daily 25 mile one way commute, the time alloted for the drivers during peak traffic hours was 45 mins and that during low traffic hours was 25 mins.

This ensures that commuters also know when the bus would reach. Here they all promise 30 mins but reach in 45mins.

On a different note - recently I came across this peculiar box in a Kerala RTC bus. sorry for the low quality pics - taken from my mob. It also had a blinking light. The box is just to the left of the steering wheel. Any idea what this is?

Drive on!!
Shibu

Quote:

Originally Posted by shibujp (Post 1708135)

On a different note - recently I came across this peculiar box in a Kerala RTC bus. sorry for the low quality pics - taken from my mob. It also had a blinking light. The box is just to the left of the steering wheel. Any idea what this is?

That is the "Speed Limiting Device". Manufactured by Pricol. This one limits the top speed of the bus to a pre-set limit (The limit is set by different Depots - ranges from 60 kmph to 90 kmph, although the legal limit is 60 kmph).

The light would blink when the bus rides slowly - the frequency of blinks would rise as the speed increases. The light stabilises when the set limit is breached. In one KeSRTC bus, I saw a switch connected to the device, using which the driver could actually switch it off. However, the engine cannot be cranked if the device is switched off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by //M (Post 1708181)

Recently I was in Bangalore and we were ferried in a Cobus Ground Globe bus at the airport. The bus was huge and had an aggressive stance. The Cobus bus was highly refined and it really moved in a hushed silence. Sadly no pics of it.

Yes,been in one too.Amazing width these buses have.Cobus is a German firm that specializes in buses mostly used as airport equipment!

City Buses of various STUs all over India-cobus1.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by binaiks (Post 1708147)

Thanks binaiks!! Detailed answer...the kind i like.

Wow!! Those cobus buses look HUGE. 3 windshield wipers give an idea of the width!!

Drive on!!
Shibu.

The JnNURM SLF Viking bus from AL still runs on 10R20 wheels, while Tata 1618c SLF sports 11R22.5 wheels. Maybe that's one reason the body shells are different for both these buses.

Was wondering if Tata provided more than what the jnNURM specification asked for, or if AL has provided an under-spec model.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkamath (Post 1709438)

Good observation, this might be true (of AL cutting corners by under-speccing a model).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amartya (Post 1709455)

Good observation, this might be true (of AL cutting corners by under-speccing a model).

Come on Yaar - There is no possibility to under spec.please:

I don think there is no spec avl for tyres. I think its the option given by manufacturer and that was chosen by BMTC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amartya (Post 1709455)

Good observation, this might be true (of AL cutting corners by under-speccing a model).

Quote:

Originally Posted by english (Post 1696080)

The reason behind BMTC to introduce volvo earlier was when they were looking for AC City buses both TML and ALL were not ready with the products. Marcopolo's are a recent addition to TML's portfolio and 8400's are plying in Blore much earlier than they have been launched. To be specific only after DTC's order of 2250 buses for TML things started moving in favour of Marco's.
So no wonder when they are commercially avl now BMTC is going for a trail of these buses.
Its time that ur Vajra's will face stiff competition from these buses no matter you argue they are leagues apart.
If some thing is cheaper with same options why to stick to brand name alone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkamath (Post 1709438)

There is no point in comparing those two!. The Tata 1618SLF is a 12M chassis. The AL VikingSLF should be compared with TataLPO1512cSLF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashley2 (Post 1710731)

The reason behind BMTC to introduce volvo earlier was when they were looking for AC City buses both TML and ALL were not ready with the products.

That is hard to believe. In fact Karnataka as a state lost the new automobile revolution to Tamil Nade(Chennai), Maharashtra(Pune,Chakkan) etc. Karnataka got only Toyota Kirloskar and Volvo until Marcopolo started production in Dharward, while other cities got many new entrants. Initial orders from BMTC and KarRTC, kept Volvo afloat in the initial days and was a win-win for both, the state and Volvo. If BMTC and KerRTC rtc did not introduce Volvos, how many states/cities might have opted for Volvos?

Quote:

Originally Posted by teamveevee (Post 1711151)

As you have mentioned Karnataka have barely missed major attraction from auto majors.
Chennai is turning to be the detroit of India. clap:
Even though its hard to believe the products from both TML and ALL were very late into market and they have severe capacity constraints. With around 6000 nos of order in hand ALL will close this order only by last quarter. Also DTC order 875 - is yet to be completed .
TML is still worser .
So this space is being time being used by Volvo.