Team-BHP - Intercity Buses operated by various private travels and STUs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind (Post 1652669)

The private buses spot very artistic liveries in Kerala! Here are two long distance limited stop buses from the same operator with different liveries.

-- Wind

Especially the buses operating in Thrissur are more color full , not even the long distance ones but also the local ones are more colorful.

At ernakulam city buses are red.

At calicut they are green.

At trivandrum and kollam I belive that they have color schemes for city buses. please cprrect me if I am wrong.

At Kottayam, Idukki, Pattanamthitta , They all are highrange fasion (the back curved)

But in Thrissur the bus owners try to do more show off on their buses. some are weired and wacky too.

@wind & @foby, in TVM / Quilon, city service buses are blue in colour. This colour code is a part of the permit conditions. City service permits have a "discount" on seating capacity - they need to have 2-4 seats less than the normal buses; and in the past, the compensation for this used to be different minimum fares for city and mofussil routes. The last time this difference was maintained, was, IIRC, when the minimum for city was 50 paise and 60 paise for mofussil routes.

Sigh!!! how time flies!!!

There used to some TVS built buses in Cochin (mofussil routes) with unpainted aluminium sheets - and they used to look good (Joshy Mon, Surya, KMS - Kalapurakal Motor Service) etc. Wow!!! I actually remember the names!!!!

I have lived in Wadakkancherry, for 2 years (the Trichur / Shornur one) and I am stuck by the very good bus bodies there - especially from an operator called "Karippal".

The "KK Menon" bus bodies too were very well built, but not garish. (TVS coach, again).

I should admit that I do have a soft corner for TVS built bodies. Nowadays, as a passenger, I can tell a TVS body by the seating comfort - my knees do not hit the front seat (I am only 5' 6"), and shoulders do not touch the neighbours" tits (I am 90 kg, give or take ten).

Speaking of weired bus bodies in Kerala, I think this deserves a separate thread.

In Vatakara / Badagara / Vadagara (pick your spelling) I have seen buses with Scorpio head lamp assemblies and grilles. These are the times I regret not having a cam phone.

since am from thrissur i can comment more on the private buses over here. its not only in livery but when competition intensifies alterations improves, not just physical but mechanical too. believe me there was one bus operated by the very own Jithin travels showcased above having an Air suspension. it was on a Viking 210 chassis(4/100 i suppose that is the name of chassis) and ran in Thrissur-Kannur route. later they bought in a cheetah 210 chassis and shifted the service to it and that too featured air balloons.
about the liveries the buses spot. thats one crazy fellows over here. but i'll say kannur,malappuram and calicut based operators are also not behind when it comes to artistic buses. but still not as much as thrissur.
Karippal is one old service through thrissur-shoranur section and they are the only one to have a dedicated fast passenger service in this route. and the class name of the bus is Sowgandhikam. Sowgandhikam has seen 4 buses till now in that series being the first bus introduced somewhere around 1995. they wont keep one bus more that 3 years in that brand name. now most of the bodies are built by karur based builders but Shillybear a local body builder is now shining in the market with their outstanding entirely different looking bodies

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 1653201)

There used to some TVS built buses in Cochin (mofussil routes) with unpainted aluminium sheets - and they used to look good (Joshy Mon, Surya, KMS - Kalapurakal Motor Service) etc. Wow!!! I actually remember the names!!!!

KMS(Kalappurackal) is there for a very long time.It was the main Operator in Pala-Ponkunnam-Kanjirappally route(along with Ernakulam services).Their Tri-colour(national flag) painting all around the bus makes them easily noticing.Aluminium unpainted Body Buses are still used in Vaikom and nearby Routes in Kerala.

The KK menon buses which opeates in long distance have changed their old boby structure to new generation ones.

How about Mayilvahanam in shornur Palakkad area , do they follow their old color scheme ?

I really like to travel in private long distance buses. They rip it kike any thing.

I always prefer to travel in Ashok leyland when it comes to long distance.

But for city ride Tata is the best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by foby.sebastian (Post 1657876)

Heard that Karittadattil A business group which is in to Cement business , owns the largest fleet of Volvo trucks , can any one confirm it ?

Thats right, but right now Rocky is becoming big too, big time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 1653201)

In Vatakara / Badagara / Vadagara (pick your spelling) I have seen buses with Scorpio head lamp assemblies and grilles. These are the times I regret not having a cam phone.

There used to be bus called ' Fantastic' plying between Ekm and Kozhikode which had a Benz grill, do you remember that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepclutch (Post 1653495)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 1653201)

Deep clutch and backseat driver for you and you only. :thumbs up Pictures of KMS.

Even KA buses, well private buses, are pretty well built, are beautiful and feature multiple TVs, Home Theater systems and proudly proclaim "DVD Home Theater" on their flanks. Most bus bodies down south are built by either Veera, Prakash, Azad and ACGL. The only thing that I loved in the luxury buses of yore, especially of AP and TN was the passenger window sill which would be as low as your elbow when sitting on the seat so you could practically rest your arm on it and get a great view as well.
Also, the older buses had huge chrome grills which has now given way to ABS stuff like the Volvos.

I haven't seen such high-tech buses up north at least in the states of MP, UP and Bihar easily though a few examples can be found.

Quote:

Originally Posted by n.devdath (Post 1684035)

Even KA buses, well private buses, are pretty well built, are beautiful and feature multiple TVs, Home Theater systems and proudly proclaim "DVD Home Theater" on their flanks.

TN buses beat everyone else hands down when it comes to giving names like "DVD Home Theatre". I have seen 'Digital Thunder', 'Digital Dolby DTS' and even 'Digital Palace'..!lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by n.devdath (Post 1684035)

well private buses, are pretty well built, are beautiful and feature multiple TVs, Home Theater systems and proudly proclaim "DVD Home Theater" on their flanks. Most bus bodies down south are built by either Veera, Prakash, Azad and ACGL.

Where did you see ACGL built private buses? Did you mean contract carriage buses?

Wheel Bearing Damaged - Volvo Service Stopped Temporarily | KSRTC Blog - Kerala State Road Transport Corporation
I guess this exactly is the reason CV Operators, go for trusted AL/TM vehicles, availability of parts. Breakdowns can happen to any vehicle, but how quickly you can be back on road is the important factor. That is one reason, it takes years, not months for a new entrant (Read Mahindra Navistar, Volvo Eicher)to gain Market share. KSRTC used to operate Eicher mini buses, one of the reason they stopped this service was availability of spares.

Quote:

Originally Posted by teamveevee (Post 1686048)

On the same website they have given that two city buses from Volvo in Cochin is already down in accidents!