[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

There is a co-operative which runs buses on Ottapalam - Shornur - Trichur - Kodungallur sector. They had a female driver. I think it was Priyadarshini. Not sure of the name though.

I am not sure if it is Vanitha too.

[silversteed]

BSD, AFAIK Priyadarshini was a bus service sponsored by the SC/ST welfare dept and manned by SC/ST people. It used to be so. Haven't seen a Priyadarshini bus in the recent times. Vanitha transport is different

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by silversteed

I was travelling in a bus from Thrissur to Kodungalloor (the driver was a he, it was driven rash). A few stops before I got down, a Vanitha Transport bus, manned by ladies pulled up next to our bus and the driver was directing profanity at our bus driver. Reason, this guy started from the bus stand 2 minutes late, which meant the gap between these two buses is just 2-3 minutes instead of the 5 minutes. The other bus took off soon after this "show" and it was rather flying low!

Welcome to the colourful world of private buses.

If you are viewed as a weakling, the bus "in front" of you will delay its departure. And the bus "behind" you will egg you for a fast departure. This elaborate elbowing requires plenty of skill (verbal, physical, etc) and includes dealing with the authorities when things go out of hand.

This is not unique to KL / IND. I recall reading a very colourful narration of this behaviour by the London buses by PG Wodehouse in out of his books, forgot the title.

[Ashley2]

Pic of TNSTC Salem Highway rider between Salem - Blore.
Surprised to see unique style of side panels.

[venkyhere]

from a post in another thread, thought this might be of interest here too..

CHE-EKM (700km) in 9 hours running time in SRM B9R chennai-thiruvalla volvo ( this must be a record for this route; avg speed ~ 78 kmph )

19:00 - start from koyambedu sharp on time (occupancy = 42)
19:15 - break for dinner (forgot the name, its in poonamalle, near sadayappa thirumana mandapam)
19:45 - resume journey
22:45 - krishnagiri T-junction
- continue via dharmapuri, salem & approach coimbatore, avoid the horrible avinashi stretch by deviating from NH at chengappalli, then go via uthukuli to tiruppur, then palladam & now travel towards coimbatore on NH67, join coimbatore bypass and continue towards palghat, trichur, ernakulam
0200 - join coimbatore bypass
0245 - palghat bypass
0255 - resume journey after it takes 10 minutes for people to collect belongings and finish exit from the bus; since all of them woke up in shock (usually palghat is around 0415)
0345 - trichur bypass
0445 - ernakulam vyttila drop off, bus continues to thiruvalla

It took just 2hrs 45mins from cbe to ekm, even if cbe-trichur road condition is horrible. This is, in fact, 'flying low'

Bus condition was ok (a few rattle noises here and there); but sitting in the first row, i got to witness the much talked about 'torque' the B9R has. The guy was driving in 6th as if he was driving a toyota camry or skoda superb. No downshifting needed for any overtaking (spot oncoming, equalize to the slower vehicle 50-60 kmph, spot opening, overtake - this would normally require downshifting since by the time the two vehicles are side-by side, i could see the meter @100kmph) - the torque vs rpm plot for the B9R engine should look very "flat"

[Stratos]

Mercedes - Sutlej buses of Neeta on Mumbai-Nashik Highway.


VRL Volvo 9400 at Santa Cruz.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Stratos

VRL Volvo 9400 at Santa Cruz..

Correction: It is a VRL Volvo 9400XL.

This I guess is one of their Banaglore-Mumbai services.

[smashnerd]

Originally Posted by Stratos

Mercedes - Sutlej buses of Neeta on Mumbai-Nashik Highway.
Attachment 540320

VRL Volvo 9400 at Santa Cruz.
Attachment 540321

The Mercs look kinda ugly from the front! I haven't seen one in person though. Anyone know of a Merc on a route in Kerala?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by smashnerd

The Mercs look kinda ugly from the front! I haven't seen one in person though. Anyone know of a Merc on a route in Kerala?

AFAIK, only the Chennai-Trivandrum route has one.. a Merc Tri-axle by Parveen.

[gold class]

Originally Posted by binaiks

AFAIK, only the Chennai-Trivandrum route has one.. a Merc Tri-axle by Parveen.

Bharathi Travels has started a new service to Changanassery Via (Allepy,Vytilla) from Bangalore using Mercedes Benz Multi Axle last Friday.

[Ashley2]

A shot in Salem Bus stand.

[urzdeepu]

Ashok Leyland in one of the Auto expos couple of years back had showcased a predecessor of Intercentury Luxura model called as Limo. It had got FE and RE models which were built on viking( and even 12m) and panther chassis respectively. Last day i happened to be in Chennai Koyambedu omni bus stand and i spotted one of these specimens. Body built by Irizar, this one doesnt have a seperate driver cabin and also see how the window designs have been made. Had slave engine for AC and also the AC fans(normally seen on the top of the bus ) is placed in the back of the bus( place where the engine is placed for a RE bus). One of the pic is a zoomed one from the hotel but is taken to show the top of the bus.(ofcourse i spotted 2 different bus of the same operator).

[aalokg]

The 0600 hrs Dadar-PuneStation service is operated by this Ashwamedha, a Volvo 9400 Multi Axle, on a temporary basis. This bus is scheduled to operate on the BOM-GOI and BOM-BLR route later. She is seen here basking in the early morning sun at the mall at Khalapur.

If I remember correctly, MH 11 T 9243/4 were old Volvo B7Rs owned by MSRTC. They have vanished from the fleet and now the two Ashwameshas carry the same regos. I think the old B7R registered 9244 was involved in a crash on the expressway about three years ago when it was running on the Swargate-ThaneVandana route.



Got to travel on this sparkling new Volvo 9400 today afternoon on my way back to Bombay. Rego is MH 11 T 9264. These new ones are owned by MSRTC. They have a CRT television installed in them . This particular bus may have been inducted in the fleet about 6 days ago. The PDI was done on the 20th of May 2011. Although she has a speed limiter set to 100kmph, she did the PuneStation-Mankhurd leg in 2 hours and 35 mins flat.

Look at that smile!!



Also notice the number plate in typical MSRTC style, done using a stencil.

Sorry for the poor image quality, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Thanks and regards,
Aalok

[Ashley2]

@urzdeepu:
The limo is basically a Luxura body for FE buses. The one is photo is been with SVL ever since the launch of Limo. SVL basically is very much inclined to Irizar snd have most of their bodies built from them.

@aalokg
The first photo seems to be like from the photo shoot, the low camera angle seems to be catchy one.

[AlphaKilo]

@ashley sir,
I guess even KPN ran this Irizar limo but with little different body style in the Chennai-Coimbatore route and it too sported a similar grey paint scheme. I couldnt find the pic of that particular bus anymore but it didnt have this roundish front rather was a usual irizar square front and tail was similar. This was a time when the B7R were quite new. Are they both the same or am I confusing myself? I guess once the second gen volvo's came up, KPN had most of its AL buses with veera body but this KPN irizar is quite old to my knowledge.