[happybuddha]

Hello,

While I will scourge for information today from other centers, I thought I could get back to my 'womb' for some genuine first hand information.

I did post earlier for buses with inter city travel. Eventually it turns out to be a lot more than what I was prepared for, manually, financially and logistically.

So, I have a few ways where I can arrange to be contracted to ferry people and corporates in the city.
My plan was to : A) Buy an AL bus ( this, I cam to conclude after a lot of social engineering with existing operators, garages and drivers)!
B) First hand AC AL (New) works out around 22 lakhs. A decent second hand bus can be bargained at 8 lakhs.
C) I am looking for sources, schemes and plans that could help me out with around 80 % of finance ( can you believe there is absolutely no information that can be gathered from the internet on the schemes govt. provides. Details available (for non ag schemes)only for PMRY are all very haphazard)

so I guess my questions are all related to points A, B and C.

> Does anyone know of any schemes that one can avail of (from the govt.?)
> Just for one more time, AL is better than tatas and others, isnt it ?
> thinking of a worst case scenario, is it achievable to sell the bus bought ?
> The eternal unanswered question in my head : first hand or second (based on the finance options I can secure)
> AL does not have their own financing structure (like tata does), I guess. Can you please confirm
> ANY other tips or things you would want to tell.

Thanks in advance for your time on this.

cheers,
HB

[julupani]

Well inside the city personally your best bet for transporting corporates would actually be a smaller bus, which would be a lot more maneuverable in traffic. And dont know about the cost factor but wouldn't a fully built thing like the Tata Marcopolo's or the AL Lynx not be an easier option for you. Dont know about the Lynx, but I think the Marcopolo buses are offered with factory fit airconditioners.

As for finance, dont know about ALL, but Tata will arrange finance for you from a variety of sources, and most commercial vehicles are financed upto 90% by the players who have a tie up with Tata. I would be really surprised if ALL also does not have tie up with banks for financing.

[TheARUN]

If you are going for a city bus, then your options are
1. Stage Carriage
2. Contract Carriage

A Stage Carriage is very difficult. Its the one which runs a designated route with route boards on it and its just like a Government city bus. The permit has to be got from the RTO and its as difficult as getting permission to start a petrol bunk

A Contract carriage is much more easier. You buy the Bus, then register it as a Contract carriage and pay tax quarterly as per the number of seats. You cannot 'legally' run this Bus from point-to-point and can only give it out on contract to Companies etc. What you can easily do is get into a sub-contract with a reputed transport company, paint your Bus with their name and share a part of the income with them as commission. For example, in Bangalore National Travels and SRS accept privately owned busses on contract. Lets say you go with National Travels who have a contract with Tyco. You paint your bus Tyco and run under the National Travels banner. National Travels will bill Tyco at say 20 rupees a kilometer and give you 18 rupees a kilometer pocketing the difference as commission.

The cheapest Bus would be a AL Chassis with a 'Karur' body. You should be able to get one for 9 lakhs for the chassis and 6 lakhs for the body, with 1 lakh thrown in for miscellaneous expenses, totalling 16 lakhs.

AL can arrange for finance for the chassis. Any finance company will finance 90% of the chassis cost. You have to go to the loan sharks for finance for the body. They will give you money at a high interest. There are schemes like you take a loan for 1 lakh. They give you 94000 in hand and you have to pay them 1000 everyday for the next 100 days. Do the math and get the best scheme for you. Sriram auto finance also does finance.

AL or TATA chassis? The heart says AL but the mind says TATA. TATA is more fuel efficient and technologically advanced but AL is more refined and reliable. AL has better resale value also, but for city use, TATA rocks. Toss a coin and go with whichever you get, they are both the same in the long run

[DWind]

My thought with respect to contracting to corporates. This is based on my involvement (as part of committee) in selection and running of buses for my employer. Corporates when they choose a particular operator would choose somebody who has a fleet of buses. The reason is
1. availability (of spare buses in case of accidents and breakdowns) and
2. scalability (ability to increase/decrease the bus strength based on need; temporary or permanent).
3. ability to handle issues related to permits, FC. A fleet owner would have already established contacts so would be able to procure permits faster/easily.

Unless you already have an understanding with a corporate and have gained their trust, running with one bus might not be attractive to your prospective customer. This can be ignored if planning to sub-contract your bus for an existing fleet owner

[smashnerd]

Hi,

I was just wondering about the procedure involved in getting a stage permit for buses in Kerala. I mean how does a total newbie go about getting a permit, running a bus on that permit and so on.


- What kind of logistical requirements are there?

- Does one need a spare bus or something like that?

- What about the unions? (both owners and employees)

- Can it be operated as a co-operative?

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by smashnerd

Hi,
I was just wondering about the procedure involved in getting a stage permit for buses in Kerala. I mean how does a total newbie go about getting a permit, running a bus on that permit and so on.

For a newbie, the easiest way is to buy a existing bus with route. Once you gain some experience and learn how to deal with unions/employees, bus owners association, RTAs etc, you could decide whether you would like to continue in this business or not

[smashnerd]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

For a newbie, the easiest way is to buy a existing bus with route. Once you gain some experience and learn how to deal with unions/employees, bus owners association, RTAs etc, you could decide whether you would like to continue in this business or not

What kind of financial investment is one looking at if one decides to go for a pre-existing route and bus combo? How often does such an offer come about? I mean, operators aren't gonna be giving up their profitable permits just like that, are they? Won't that actually be costlier than starting from scratch?

[sanjaykk]

On a lighter note, you should watch the malayalam movie called 'Varavelpu' starring Mohanlal.

It has everything from buying the bus, dealing with employees/unions, inspectors etc.

Sorry for the

[kuttapan]

I think BackSeatdriver is the best person to comment, as he has been through this before. He can also tell you why he had to ultimately dissolve the operation.

It is very difficult to run a successful bus business without muscle and money power, me thinks. Straight talking does not work with the personnel involved - Drivers/Unions/RTO/Police etc.