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-   -   Unique, one of a kind petrol pumps in your travels (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/239176-unique-one-kind-petrol-pumps-your-travels.html)

Being petrolheads, one common thing is the all too frequent trip to get the ride refueled. While the preference on model (COCO v/s franchise), brand (IOC or HP), Service (Shell) or facilities (Reliance) is dominant reason, the gas stations are in themselves all coming from the same template. Nothing overly distinctive or unique in their look and feel from what I have experienced in India.

However, that's not true in the USA. There are huge truck stops that have homestyle food, showers, dorms, dentists and more serving the trucking community. Or an Indian restaurant at a gas station or a Dhaba at a truck stop. And then you have Buc-ee's.

When you hear or read the words "Everything's big in Texas", this specific gas station is literally that, and more. I had the opportunity to use the facilities at a Buc-ee's location en-route to San Antonio recently and no amount of words can describe the size of this gas station/convenience store. Below info is from the web.

"The Buc-ee’s location in New Braunfels, Texas is currently the world’s largest gas station and includes 120 fuel pumps, 1,000 parking spots, a 67,000 square-foot convenience store with 80 soda fountain dispensers, 31 billing stations and the current largest car wash in the world at 255 feet long."

They have a huge offering of grab and go tex-mex food, a wide selection of coffee, and shelves upon shelves of snacks for the road. The number of bagged ice storage (60+) is unbelievable. In fact, to my recollection, this is the only gas station where people take selfies with the mascot and getting stuff here or eating from this place is on a must do list for lot of people.

Please share your experience about unique gas stations/petrol pumps from your journeys.

And this one is from the US west coast. Right at the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Sepulveda Blvd, is an unassuming gas station. A typical pocket sized one when real estate is at a premium especially the LA area and more so the vanity town of Santa Monica. What is unique is the Indian restaurant inside (more of takeaway). I must say that the idea was a little bold but apparently it is now ranked in the top list for Indian food in LA!

I was working close by during my time in that city when this place opened but soon became the default caterer for team events when Indian food was chosen and the quality was top notch.

LA has a significant Indian diaspora as well as other who enjoy Indian food but a combo of gas station and desi food makes it unique.

The fuel station that I write about now may not be a great one in terms of features, products etc. But it is unique in terms of trust the owner has on his customers.

I was traveling towards Hyderabad few years ago and had to refuel my car on the highway somewhere in Andhra Pradesh. Usually, I ask the attendant about working condition of the credit card reader before I fill the fuel. If in case, it doesn't work, I never want to get into awkward moment. So, as usual, I asked him, if card reader condition and he said, its fine and they accept cards.

After filling the tank, I gave them my card for swiping and the card reader failed. I did have some cash with me, but I did not want to empty my pocket by giving him all hard cash.

When we were struggling to solve the issue, the owner (or probably manager) came out to find out the issue. When I explained him about the issue, with out thinking twice, he asked me to leave the station without paying and asked me to pay while returning.

I asked him how he can trust me, when he had not seen me even once in life. He said "Sir, how do you know that I filled diesel to the tank? It is trust you had on us. Since you trusted us, I am returning trust to you. I am sure you will not cheat me"

I was dumbstruck with his words. I left the station with a promise to pay the amount while returning after 10 days. While returning, I paid him full cash and filled the tank again.

I don't know the name of the station, name of the owner (or manager) but, this post reminds me that experience of the fuel station. Almost 4500 and odd rupees may be big or small amount for the fuel station manager. But, the feeling that he gave me that I am trustable, is priceless.

@mmxylorider, is this the Buc-ee's you were mentioning? Pretty impressive:thumbs up





Although nowhere near the scale of the above fuel station, I was quite impressed with the size of a HPCL fuel station at the busy Sripuram Circle in Visakhapatnam. The red, blue and white theme was really eye-catching.







Another one that is loved on the N-S highway to/from Chennai is the BPCL fuel station near the Ulundurpet toll. This had an A2B attached to it when I saw it last over a year ago.





Both these are nowhere close to Buc-ee’s in terms of size or conveniences offered, but I found them both to be popular with users.

Yes, that's the one. It's almost like a festive time inside with very positive mood on everyone.

Here's a full thread & many pictures on one such pump: Karfule turns 80! Bombay's stunning art deco petrol pump

The Shell petrol Pump at Warje, Pune.

1) They greet you with folded hands, a smile and a namaskar every time you pull up at the pump.
2) 80% of the employees are women.
3) Cleanliness. Extremely polite and helpful staff.
4) Efficient crowd management.
5) I have been topping up there for years now. Zero adulteration.

I think lot of customers like these points. That would explain why the pump has 4.3 rating after a whopping 4635 reviews

Had to look this one up and it is indeed freaking huge. Looks like a small airport itself :D

Whenever I do a Kochi <->Thrissur run, I always get a tankful from the Indian oil COCO pump on NH 544. When travelling from Kochi towards Thrissur, this place is on the left after the Apollo-Adlux-convention area and before the Koratty signal junction. There are more than enough booths with all variants of fuel. There is a drive way within to access other facilities. Attaching a location link below:


I find this place unique due to a variety of factors :
1. Everything from CNG to all types of fuels.
2. Saravana Bhavan to Cafe Coffee Day.
3. Obviously air and nitrogen is available.
4. Bus / Lorry resting bay for those long distance ones.
5. Kids play area (never seen a play area in petrol pump before)
6. Garden and space for taking walks.
7. Some kind of service station. I think it is for 2 wheelers.
8. And yes future proof with EV Charging.:cool:

Never been to this particular IOC pump, but have heard about it and the struggle Professor S K Nayyar father of Captain Anuj Nayyar, an officer of the 17 Jat Regiment of the Indian Army during Operation Vijay - another name for the Kargil Conflict, who lost his life serving the country on 7-7-1999 at a young age of 23.

The pump is named Kargil Heights Filling Station and is located in Vasundhara Enclave area of New Delhi. A movie named ‘Dhoop’ was made based on the above.

Have come across many excellent fuel stations including the COCO ones but one of my favourite stop is located at a tiny place named Malbazaar which serves as an entry point to Dooars in North Bengal.

The bunk is named Roy and Cousin and the owner is a collector of some brilliant cars and is an enthusiast. The petrol bunk has a tea joint attached which serves varieties of tea plus delectable snacks and savouries and has top notch amenities for travellers. I always make it a point to stop and spend some time, wonderful place. Some pictures :

Its a treat in these pandemic times to be able to sit at home and yet visit new places, and experience new sights. Threads such as these allow us a glimpse into another world, all from the comfort of our own houses.

Thank you for sharing such lovely pictures of such unique petrol pumps. Shows how a mundane boring business, which is usually associated with meter tampering, adulteration, cheating tactics, can also be encourage such positivity. Heartening to see so many passionate people running pumps in India (Roy & Cousin looks so amazing that I'm tempted to make a trip just to experience it firsthand) and the world (Buc-ee's seems hugeeee, just like everything these Texans do.) What a contrast to some of the tiny single unmanned pumps in some other parts of the world.

Looking at the evolution of automobiles, and the EV industry, I sometimes wonder what will happen to this entire ecosystem that supports the IC engine? Will it go into oblivion like PCO's, Telex, Fax, or will it innovate and transform itself to stay relevant?

In terms of size of petrol bunks inside a city, I found the company owned HP bunk at the old airport road, Bangalore to be quite big. Also the bunk has 3 air filling stations, 1 Nitrogen air filling, An Ev charging station, An automatic bike wash machine (Outsourced), a couple of shops for snacks, along with the usual Oil change, emission testing shops etc.
the Employees seemed well trained and professional.

There is petrol bunk somewhere between Coimbatore and Salem (forgot the exact location) where they clean your windshield free of cost. They also provide either newspaper or piece of cloth for free when you fill fuel over Rs.1000.

I actually came across this Gas station on one of the Travel channels I follow in YouTube sometime back. It is very interesting and fun fact is 18 wheelers are not allowed there.

Attaching the video here.
https://youtu.be/80oyG1Vl1Vc

Personally, my favorite petrol pumps in India on the highways I frequent are
1. BP bunk in Uludurpet that has an A2B attached.
2. The HP COCO in Shoolagiri that is huge as well and has a good selection of restaurants.

Thanks for initiating the discussion. While the size may not be comparable to the west, the fuel stations on Mumbai-Pune Express Way are quite notable, especially the new one just after Khalapur toll towards Pune. Fuel station & the adjacent public utilities & cafeteria are really good, large & spacious. Also, for the 1st time, I have noticed dedicated truck rest areas with washrooms on Mumbai side of the highway.