[bugatti_86]

I prefer Mercedes Benz buses,because of their perfection German blend in the interiors which is class & intelligent as well as pioneering automotive engineering ,I have also traveled in Volvo but not that satisfactory.Its my personal experience with Mercedes Benz buses because as i have traveled nearly 1600kms to & fro & believe me it flies like an AIRBUS on the road.But unfortunately we rarely find Mercedes Benz buses here but they are most widely used buses here in K.S.A.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by bugatti_86

I prefer Mercedes Benz buses,because of their perfection German blend in the interiors which is class & intelligent as well as pioneering automotive engineering ,I have also traveled in Volvo but not that satisfactory.Its my personal experience with Mercedes Benz buses because as i have traveled nearly 1600kms to & fro & believe me it flies like an AIRBUS on the road.But unfortunately we rarely find Mercedes Benz buses here but they are most widely used buses here in K.S.A.

Err... Are you talking about the Merc buses in India, or the ones in KSA? I somehow felt the Mercs in India looking far outdated than the Volvos. There is now wonder why Volvos still outsell the Mercs by a large margin. While the Merc intends to sell 100 buses a year, Volvo has been selling over 800 units a year very easily.

[the VTEC guy]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Err... Are you talking about the Merc buses in India, or the ones in KSA? I somehow felt the Mercs in India looking far outdated than the Volvos. There is now wonder why Volvos still outsell the Mercs by a large margin. While the Merc intends to sell 100 buses a year, Volvo has been selling over 800 units a year very easily.

Lets be realistic. 450 to be precise in 2009.
That difference in numbers is mainly because VOLVO being in market since 2001. Thats 9 years against 1-2 years for Mercedes. An established player vs new comer. Have seen recently a lot of Mercedes buses on the Pune/Mumbai sector.

The introduction of express way and Volvo buses has made the travel between Pune and Mumbai a dream for commuters.
On this sector we have atleast 1 bus leaving every 15 minutes from morning to late night. You are looking at 3-4 trips a day between Mumbai Pune for 1 Volvo bus. That in turn leads to early returns on investment around 18 months in this sector.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by the VTEC guy

Lets be realistic. 450 to be precise in 2009.
That difference in numbers is mainly because VOLVO being in market since 2001. Thats 9 years against 1-2 years for Mercedes

For a realistic comparison, subtract the no of Volvos KarRTC and BMTC baught..Any guess?

[Ashley2]

Do subtract 100 nos to MTC and also to KeSRTC.
Then It will be less than 75 thats been bought by private operators.

with over a 35000 buses sold every year its less than 400 buses(~1%) are sold in super luxury segment. For this minuscle share of buses Volvo, MB,Isuzu are fighting. I am quite it will take quite sometime for this segment to grow to atleast 1000 numbers.Until then it may seem to look like home grown players are loosing market oppurtunity but in reality they will give back when the market matures in another 5 years.

[iamback]

Their are more than 500 Volvo's in Pune as B.R.T. Service.
Just Read this Pune Bus Rapid Transit

Source : Wikipedia Organization

[conjon]

Originally Posted by iamback

Their are more than 500 Volvo's in Pune as B.R.T. Service.
Just Read this Pune Bus Rapid Transit

Source : Wikipedia Organization

wikipedia is not a very reliable source of information.
BANGALORE HAS THE MOST NO OF BUSES FOR CITY OPERATIONS AND THAT STAND AT ABOUT 250-300 BUSES AT THIS POINT.
500 VOLVO BUSES IN PUNE BRT SYSTEM: NOW THAT'S NOT VERY REALISTIC AT THIS POINT OF TIME. MAY BE 5 YEARS DOWN THE LINE ITS POSSIBLE.

Note from Support: Please avoid posting in all CAPS. Makes it difficult for other members to read.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

with over a 35000 buses sold every year its less than 400 buses(~1%) are sold in super luxury segment. For this minuscle share of buses Volvo, MB,Isuzu are fighting. I am quite it will take quite sometime for this segment to grow to atleast 1000 numbers.Until then it may seem to look like home grown players are loosing market oppurtunity but in reality they will give back when the market matures in another 5 years.

Why not Ashley? Merc fights with BMW and Audi in the Passenger Car segment for similarly proportioned miniscule volume (In comparison to the total cars sold across all segments).

It's 2010 and it's very sad that you say that the homegrown players will wait for 5 more years for the market to mature.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by iamback

Their are more than 500 Volvo's in Pune as B.R.T. Service.

The total fleet strength of PMPML is only 1000 buses! Wikipedia is perhaps the least reliable source for such information - given the fact that the information is user editable.

Originally Posted by conjon

wikipedia is not a very reliable source of information.
BANGALORE HAS THE MOST NO OF BUSES FOR CITY OPERATIONS AND THAT STAND AT ABOUT 250-300 BUSES AT THIS POINT.

250-300 is a very old figure. Its certainly hovering near or above 400 now (including the 69 Vayu Vajras).

[Jayant..B]

Originally Posted by GTO

The bigger deal to me is, how on earth did Volvo convince bus operators, during the early days, to pay multiple times the price of competitors? This extends not only to buses but even trucks. I mean, that same truck operator could buy a Tata at 1/2 or 1/3rd the price. Obviously Volvo sold them on the value component (and not necessarily price), still its a case study in the making. I mean, these are the kind of operators who would think twice before ordering a premium cup of tea at 8 bucks, instead of the "regular kadak" at 4 bucks.

Volvo deserves credit for raising the bar in India, when it comes to trucks & buses.

Yes GTO, your point is correct. It is really creditable for Volvo to convince Indian bus operators. Secondly i have heard that the spare part cost is also higher that Tata or AL.

We Indians have started to value quality at last!

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by kiku007

It's 2010 and it's very sad that you say that the homegrown players will wait for 5 more years for the market to mature.

The only reason behind was my little Patriotism which was in favour of our players.
And I strongly agree with you that they must mature themselves as fast as possible to give back.
Not really interested to see them trailing behind these - So called Worlds No 1 Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer.

[vikramk]

Based on my experience of staying outside India, I've seen that non-Indians generally do not look too much into the brand of the bus they travel in. This could be because they usually have high quality buses and have gone past the stage of ordinary buses being a majority.
However in India, we very often see people specifically booking tickets by Volvos and also talking to great lengths about the high quality of these buses. And all this because a majority of people in India have seen just the Tatas and ALs that do not have anything significant to boast about.
I guess over a period of another 15-20 years, the top end buses will have a major part of the market share and high quality will become a part of life.

[Rohit Tripathi]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

The only reason behind was my little Patriotism which was in favour of our players.
And I strongly agree with you that they must mature themselves as fast as possible to give back.
Not really interested to see them trailing behind these - So called Worlds No 1 Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer.

Ok at this point I want to discuss, have you seen how most Indian owned Buses, ships, houses are poorly maintained when compared to Europe/North America.
If you look at the ships on the Bombay harbor all the rusted buckets are owned by Indian Shipping Companies and all the bright looking ships are owned by Norwegian or other country shipping lines.
Like wise for Volvo, when it was introduced it was brand new and you never noticed a run down volvo. Off late I have seen so many APSRTC volvos with wiring hanging and bald tires. Why don't we take pride in what we own. I think the TBHP members are the set of people I see interested and proud of what we own and maintain.
Another example I can quote: The Indian customs we meet on early mornings after returning on an International filghts, compare them to the smartly dressed and polite customs people we meet at other international airports.
I am proud to be an Indian just thought of sharing this to understand if this is only my observation or does everyone share this thought?

[Vajo]

Over last week, I took BMTC VOLVO from Marthalli to Srinivasnagar ( distance of 18 KM) daily on return journey from office. Its mostly IT crowd , and on some days did not get the seat and had to travel standing. Its absolutely comfortable travelling standing in these BMTC Volvo buses. The time it takes is almost same as driving by Car. One good thing ( not sure if its correct ) Volvo buses stop if you wave at them , may be they have been advised to pick up as many passengers as possible to make up for the losses. Remember earlier KSRTC used to run a service called ( Wave to stop bus service in Karnataka rural areas.)

There was a TV9 report that BMTC is earning around 20% more in its daily earnings in VOLVO services due to onset of summer.

Also to add the concept of BUS day in bangalore is really going great. Many from IT industry prefer to take VOLVO on these BUS days.

[eternalmonotony]

Originally Posted by bugatti_86

I prefer Mercedes Benz buses,because of their perfection German blend in the interiors which is class & intelligent as well as pioneering automotive engineering ,I have also traveled in Volvo but not that satisfactory.Its my personal experience with Mercedes Benz buses because as i have traveled nearly 1600kms to & fro & believe me it flies like an AIRBUS on the road.But unfortunately we rarely find Mercedes Benz buses here but they are most widely used buses here in K.S.A.

That kind of sounds like inspird by some awe for mercedes benz ibrand Please elaborate on the "perfect german blend and pioineering automotive engineering" more in terms of understandable features and experiences? Or maybe the kind of buses you speak of havent come to India. Because in my personal experience of having travelled in Merc Benz buses and Volvo buses, Volvo was outright superior.