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-   -   Trivandrum gets back its sorely missed Double-Deckers! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/98074-trivandrum-gets-back-its-sorely-missed-double-deckers-3.html)

Didn't want to open a new thread for this, so sharing on the only double-decker bus thread of Team-BHP.

Thanks to Samit Mukherjee for sending these pictures in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing them with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

My best memory of traveling by double decker.

Was traveling from Kurla to Andheri during a typical Mumbai monsoon evening, at bail bazar Andheri-Kurla road felt stream of hot air coming from a jetliner which was about to take off from other side of the wall.(Not sure but might be 747 as this was year 2006 or 2007)

Double Decker buses have huge potential in India if designed properly. The basic design flaw is that the entry and exit doors are too narrow. Also standing passengers may find it difficult, especially on the top.

Double deckers can also be used as Intercity buses on highways like between Bangalore and Chennai but they should be designed in such a way their center of gravity remains low, as these buses will be subjected to high speed and the chances of toppling down are more. I do wish they come back to Indian streets.

Just curious, considering they are being built in MH, why not ship them via sea? Or is the detour around SL a deal breaker?

Ashok Leyland has bagged an order of 300 double decker buses from the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation. They may be producing a max of 5 buses each month. It doesn't make financial sense for them to hire a ship just for these 5 buses every month from Mumbai to Dhaka. Moving them by road needs just 5 drivers and diesel to run.

I've seen some pics of Dhaka. It looks really very good! Good roads, footpaths, modern looking buildings, etc. Lots of high end cars on the streets.

I don't know much about Bangladesh, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're improving by leaps and bounds in governance and economically.

I believe that if political will, good intent and honest politicians existed in India, several of our cities could have had double decker buses (as opposed to phasing them out under the pretext of "financially unviable to operate, roads not fit", etc). All fixable if the will is there.

As much as I love double decker buses, I definetly feel viability could be an issue for below reasons.

1. Limited routes where they can be used because most of our cities have poorly planned over head cables and in some places trees protruding
2. Not as easily maneuverable as the single deck ones - might have to take longer turning radius turns to avoid toppling etc
3. Not viable on intercity routes - not ideal for high speed runs on highways owing to the boxiness
4. Our Indian tendency would be to crowd the lower deck so that you can exit first when your stop arrives and for that reason the upper deck will mostly go empty. Once lower deck is full, no one will board the bus and hence economics will be affected

Double deckers are very common in Singapore where I live currently and I admire the different models here a lot - Man Lions city , Volvo ( various generations ) , Alexander Dennis enviro 5 series.. some day these might reach out shores !

Not bad. They have also stuck to the iconic Titan for the chassis name.

Double Decker's can be made for safe & comfortable long haul journeys. The developed world uses them a lot as it is essentially doubling carrying capacity on a single journey. Even if you do not want to double capacity, you can make money by offering premium seating on the lower deck. A little driver training is all that is needed for a safe and comfortable journey. Considering our expressway landscape is ever increasing, there is less of a worry over taking sharp turns and the bus toppling.

Here are some pictures I took of a Double Deck bus journey I did in New Zealand. I took up the trip for experiencing bus travel. I had nothing to do other than wait for the return bus journey after reaching my destination. This was a round trip from Wellington to Flat Hills, Ohingaiti. A very comfortable journey even though 99% roads in NZ are State Highways, constantly twisting and turning. We have only a fraction of the Expressway length India has. India is ahead of the game when it comes to multi lane highways.

Always a pleasure seeing this jumbo out on the roads -

Saw countless number of these near Varanasi last week, ofcourse meant for Bangladesh, must have originated from a plant up north.