[clevermax]

This has to one of the worst travels experiences one has encountered on a public transport. Again, from Kerala SRTC. Lady conductor's disrespectful behavior towards the passengers.

https://www.facebook.com/10003030320...?sfnsn=wiwspwa

[Rob UK]

Originally Posted by lsjey

If these corporations are privatized, I'm sure one will be able to track the bus, have a good booking experience and such.

Well private buses also drive rashly and governments need to bring in regulations, to monitor them using technology. As for these SRTCs, they absolutely have no money to invest in technology.

When this privatization will happen, god only knows. Until then, we have to bear with them.

Privatisation only improves matters where the operator doesn't have a monopoly position.

British trains are a good case in point. Last night I got on the express out of London. There are no trains today in much of the UK because the b****rds are on strike, again.

We used to have a very good service where I used to live, but the supplier lost the contract renewal bid, then the company who took over were so awful that the government exercised a performance clause in the contract and took direct control of the services.

I would rather it was all re-nationalised. Another thing the private operators do is put too many first class carriages and not enough standard class carriages in each train set quite deliberately to make the standard class unpleasant and persuade you to upgrade. A horrible experience all round with some private companies, especially once they have decided not to compete for the contract again.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

Many of us might have experienced horrible things during use of public transportation....

Since you are travelling State Transport buses for the first time, all this seems irritating to you. Some 15 years back, the state of the Karnataka State Transport corp's busses from Bangalore to Chennai were similar. Rajahamsa or Airavat club class were similar in their experience. No info on which platform the busses will depart from, no SMS on bus number, last minute cancellation were common. KSRTC had, during the weekend, one bus every one minute to chennai (for eg 10.30,10.31 etc). Sometimes the 11.00 PM bus came before the 10.30PM bus and your bus, which is probably a connecting service like Mangalore-Bangalore-Chennai, does not arrive even 2 hours after the scheduled departure time.

Situation has improved slightly now as the departing stations have changed from Majestic to Shanthi Nagar for all TN bound busses. This is only during normal commute. During festival season,it gets a lot worse, with a lot of black marketing of tickets, which, i am told, get as high as 2500.00 for an en route illegal pickup. Carrying illegal luggage and cargo is quite common. The best strategy for travel in such busses is to just get into your seat and pull a kerchief on your eyes and try to sleep. I say "try" since i don't have any luck with co passengers who are either drunk blind as a bat or who are smelly as a rat or snore with decibel levels higher than the engine. So now being more wise, i book the night train services (Kaveri/mail) which only robs you of your sleep.

All this would pale in comparison while trying to board a private bus from Kalasipalya to Chennai or anywhere else. That would make you sing praises for KSRTC.

[Vaishak]

After going through all of what is written about KSRTC and their road manners, it makes one wonder whether the ever-famous Kerala MVD and KSRTC serve in different countries altogether. Why is the general public always on the receiving end of both the govt. agencies? A few days back, I saw a video about the brake lights not working on KSRTC’s. If this was a private vehicle, it would have been a field day for the MVD.

One can easily deduce that if MVD goes behind KSRTC’s the same way they catch hold of the public, it won’t be long before we see most of the fleets back in their own depots.

[LaRoca]

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Thanks for the support & understanding

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Vaishak

After going through all of what is written about KSRTC and their road manners, it makes one wonder whether the ever-famous Kerala MVD and KSRTC serve in different countries altogether.

They both used to be based out of transport bhavan in East fort in Trivandrum. I think the MVD has moved out to another office

[sac23]

KSRTC buses have become a menace in Kerala. They try to kill me all the time when I am riding or driving in roads of Kerala. They have no sense of road safety. They always overtake in blind corners and tight spaces by pushing oncoming vehicles out of road.
The amount of curse these KSRTC bus drivers get from others on road in a day is astonishing. They keep killing people on road at get away with it as unintentional homicide. I hope that one day these drivers will be held responsible for their actions.

[GeeTee TSI]

Do STCs in general and Kerala STC in particular have unrealistic trip schedules mandated (solely from turnaround and revenue point of view with little thought to safety)? I have a feeling the reckless driver behaviour comes partly from the organisational policy. How on earth could someone 'maintain' or 'make up' time on narrow, twisty and dense KL roads!

Add to that a complete lack of driver accountability to ensure safety. In relative terms you are probably safer in a KSRTC bus than in front of one

[TKMCE]

A lot of your issues seems to be because you expect European style efficiency in Kerala's public transport.

Kerala SRTC is not the best but certainly not the worst. And one bad experience on one of the busiest evenings of the full year in Kerala cannot be reason enough for KSRTC bashing just because you had a horrible trip,


Kerala SRTC has a very well maintained booking website. And most importantly they give some very crucial information which would have helped you in deciding whether to book this bus in the first place. It clearly states the route and most importantly indicates which depot is the bus based.

In your case this bus is from Aluva depot. I seriously doubt this was indeed a new crew as you state. It is in every likelihood the returning crew.

Now in this particular schedule, the crew departs from Aluva at 0740,is supposed to reach Trivandrum at 1420 and return back at 1530 reaching Aluva at 2155, driving some 440 km up and down in some 14 hours with just an hour break.

Now imagine the plight of this crew? Even if their bus is delayed by 1 hour, OUT goes their rest break. And also if I am not wrong, the bus if it is delayed on arrival at Trivandrum past their departure time, the crew needs the clearance of the station master/inspector before it can leave which would have accounted for the further delay.

I am not pointing fingers. But I have travelled in KSRTC from the time the minimum fare was 20 paisa (now it is 10 rupees) and travel whenever I get a chance. The number of bad experiences in my easily 5000 + trips (no- I don't count- I commute!) would have been less than 20 or 25 across the better part of 5 decades.


And one more important thing. Do not forget that these employees have no idea when in each month they will get their monthly paycheck. But the banks are not as liberal, they dock their EMIs on the date specified. I have been in a similar situation for a few months in another company and believe me it can take a strain on you and your family. And despite all these, the KSRTC employees with a few exceptions are still doing a great job in my opinion, the incidents you mention and a few others not withstanding.


So just consider it as a one off experience is my suggestion.

[BLACNWYTE]

I guess the tone of my post was like I'm making a journey in KSRTC for the first time. So let me clarify; KSRTC is the default choice for me when I use public transportation. So much so that I avoid the cheaper and more comfortable options of Indian Railways.

I have been using private and govt operated buses since I was 11 years old back in the late 90s. Yes, you read that right I started commuting solo at that age and it was only a 40 km round trip to my school and back then. This happened regularly till 2007, when I went out of state for studies and resumed when I moved back in 2013.

Since 2015 itself I have made numerous trips all across Kerala in KSRTC buses. I have used ordinary buses to the interstate multi-axle Volvos. However, my preferred bus remains the Super Fast category. In all my years, this was the slowest I have seen a Super Fast bus driven even when it was abnormally delayed.

I know about the unrealistic trip schedules and plight of the staff since often in my long journeys I strike up casual conversation with the conductors. And apart from a few rotten apples most of the staff are courteous and sincere. It was never my intention to generalise the entire department but to recount a horrible experience. Yes, it stood out because this was the first time in many years I'm having a bad experience in KSRTC.

Since then I have made two more round trips from TVM to EKM in KSRTC buses and in all four journeys, the buses were on time and I had a very good time.

[MinivanDriver]

Feel sorry for the unpleasant experience described by the thread starter. KSRTC still seems to have some good staff and service as I found out during my September trip. I had to travel from Trivandrum to Changanacherry. Since I couldn’t get ac train tickets, I booked the AC Volvo (low floor buses converted for long distance travel). It was a very pleasant experience. I could catch the bus from my nearest bus stop. The bus was about 15 minutes late. However when I called the staff on the provided mobile number, it was promptly picked up and politely answered that the bus will arrive in a few minutes and it did. The driver was really driving extremely carefully and patiently never wasting a minute on any unnecessary stop. The first break was after 3 hours at Thiruvalla bus station for about 10 minutes. Passengers were informed that it was a quick bio break and breakfast stop would be later. All together, a very pleasant journey.

[RRM]

This was an absolute unpleasant ordeal I must say. You had no other immediate options as well. 4 hrs delay throws out the entire further plan out of gear. Their long distance mostly are age old vehicle of Tata and Leyland which continues to chug along with heavy headed person on the controls who just squeezes through traffic blocks and waves the tail in anger if one provokes. No one questions or have accountability. Moreover MC road is notorious for accidents due to good rubberised roads.

20 yrs back, I had travelled from Palakkad to Bangalore, and had the experience of bed bugs in the seat. Had to take a bath like never before Thereafter I stopped using whatsoever and started using Karnataka SRTC and later moved to own travel mode

Fast forward 2022, I came across their ksrtc-swift travel option called Gajaraj (Orange coloured) and it was a pleasant surprise. Couldn’t believe that Kerala RTC had started with such travel options though the entire organisation is below poverty line/pauper. I had booked via goibibo to Palakkad to just check it out. It was Volvo double axle sleeper. It was Clean and well maintained and clean bed sheets. Maintaining time was difficult as the start was from shanti nagar bus stand and to come to st. johns hospital stand at Madiwala , was a nightmare. To add spice, an accident at thoppur ghat delayed the schedule further by 2 hrs and by the time I reached Palakkad it threw my further plans as well as it’s own schedule to reach Ernakulam ( 7 am should have been at Ernakulam but it was at Palakkad and then imagine the traffic further). The bus had proper uniformed 2 young staff members doubling as conductor and driver-with white shirt, black pant and the swift symbol on the left pocket. They were polite and well mannered as well. Moreover I got SMS updates on time.

The driver changed controls at a 6-7 hr interval!

The same karte-swift non Volvo are there for other interstate travels, though don’t remember the destination

Entire experience of to and fro was like a well orchestrated SOP. I used once again the same route due to first experience. It was economical than private carriers.

If they can continue to maintain the standard then it has some light at the end of tunnel, hopefully but long way to go for sure

few exterior photos below. Forgot to click interiors

[harimkd]

This was a really bad experience for you, largely due to the unrealistic and unlawful schedules set by the KSRTC administration and the inaction of the government to address these issues. It may have been a lucky or unlucky coincidence that you got a driver who followed the rules, which is not common in KSRTC.

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

The bus driver, (new shift, new guy) was heard saying we are so late we will leave immediately as my seat was just diagonally opposite to that of the driver. A fellow came and asked the driver when will the bus leave as he had to go to the restroom to which the driver replied that he cannot guarantee anything as it was already very late and that's why he is still idling the engine.

To begin with, the bus you travelled in was operated by Aluva KSRTC and it starts at 07:40 AM from Aluva and is supposed to reach Trivandrum by 02:20 pm covering 240 km, then returning to Aluva by 3:30 pm. The bus got only one driver to cover the entire route. (Earlier they had a Driver cum Conductor system but now it is rarely followed). According to the schedule, the bus should reach Aluva by 09:55 pm and by that time the driver might have driven 480 km in 14 hours and 15 minutes.



Running time of 6 hours and 40 minutes from Aluva to Trivandrum is not practical, and even on normal days, it may take the bus around 7 hours and 30 minutes to cover the busy MC road in the morning rush. Onam weekend rush might add to it, so the bus might have reached Trivandrum by 4PM. They will be sending the bus details through sms only after the bus reached the depot.

It is important to note that KSRTC schedules are managed by depot officials, not by drivers or conductors. Although they had a schedule for the bus, the driver had to get approval from the depot's controlling inspector before it could start (even at the pre-scheduled time). Thus, the driver might have thought that they would get clearance without delay, but the scheduling inspector might have thought differently. You can’t blame the driver for that.

Moreover, the driver and conductor will not receive any extra duty or payment for this delay, and the waiting time will simply add some extra working hours to their schedules. The bus arrived back at 1 AM, so they worked for seventeen hours and twenty minutes, but this extra working time will not be included in their duty hours. (7 hours driving is the normal duty time so this means almost half day’s extra duty). So, they are the real losers of the situation along with some passengers like you.

According to the Kerala motor vehicle workers act, drivers can assign not more than eight hours of duty per day and in rare cases, they can assign up to 12 hours. Nevertheless, the normal duty assigned to him is about 14.5 hours, and the actual duty he performs is about 17 hours. The time between schedules is also limited, and there is no time for him to rest. KSRTC assigns duty in such a pathetic manner that is a real threat to road users and passengers. In 2018, the Kerala high court ordered KSRTC to follow the rules and ensure that no driver or conductor is assigned over duty. However, the government-sponsored corporation continues to violate both rules and the court's order. A blind eye is being turned by the government towards this dangerous activity.

(https://englisharchives.mathrubhumi....rala-1.3100899)

In this case, you had an overworked driver who just drove 8 hours with no rest in the heavy traffic and he had to drive another 8 hours on the same road. Despite this, the driver kept his cool and did not even exceed the speed limit. Rarely do we see a KSRTC bus following the rules or limiting its speed. (The maximum allowed speed on MC road is 60 KMPH). It is also possible that the bus had a speed governor working, which is also unusual for a KSRTC bus. Perhaps the driver was trying to achieve specific mileage targets, which explains the low speed and gears he used to climb hills.

The bus was supposed to reach Aluva by 09:55 pm, but it arrived at 1 am instead. If the driver hadn't followed the speed limit, you would have saved around 30 minutes, considering the bus started at 5 and the heavy traffic for the first hour.



Our options as travellers in this scenario are limited unless KSRTC schedules buses in a practical manner and gives their staff enough rest between shifts. While Next time, while booking a KSRTC bus, book through their official website which will show the operating depot of the bus. Except for the night long-distance buses, you could prefer a bus which is operated from your starting depot. This will ensure that in a normal scenario, your bus will at least start on time.