[Traxter]

Guys just did a run to Guruvayur/Trichur and have a rant on the private bus drivers...wonder if any Keralite bhp folks have any comments

These guys seem to drive like maniacs to make up for time 'lost' picking up passengers and have horns that can wake up the dead bodies. They use them like bludgeons to make all traffic on their path move away and if you don't give way, they drive inches from you at high speed to scare you into submission.

Even in situations where the traffic is slow/stuck because of obstruction they keep blasting horns as if that would melt traffic.

One guy tried to be so aggressive in crowding me out of the road that he almost caused an accident. I was going to tell about this to a policeman and file a attempted murder charge...but my wife advised against it. I know nothing will happen, at least that guy will get milked a few thousand in bribes using my 'complaint' as excuse...

I dont even know why a so-called leftist state like Kerala has so many private buses and hardly any decent RTC bus...but that is a different matter altogether.

I was frankly relieved when I left the border to re-enter TN.

[jkrishnakj]

Try taking a Kerala State corporation bus some time. And add a bit more spice when a private bus is headed to the same destination. That's when you realise how precious life.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

traxter i can understand what you must have gone through, had you been to Ernakulam/Cochin you could have found the situation to be even worse. I have seen some drivers shift gears without using clutch

Spike

[amitoj]

Didnt we have a thread like this some time back?? With photos that too!!

[DRIV3R]

Once i was traveling from Coimbatore to Guruvayur, in an Indicab. I had a similar experience, a maniac private bus from behind was honking to glory and making dangerous overtaking moves on narrow roads. We were all disturbed till that moron overtook us and finally he had managed to push the car out of the road and overtake. He honks to death and comes upto the rear bumper, until way is given.

Add to this, racing between themselves (other buses). Worst experience.

Not a wonder that many accidents happen in that route.

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Didnt we have a thread like this some time back?? With photos that too!!

Maybe you mean this one - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...ate-buses.html

[vdi]

I won't even dare to go out in the daytime with my car to the city due to this very reason. It's very scary and once a red killer almost tried to hit me on the south overbridge. Continues honking is something which is most irritating. Sometimes I feel like they have deployed someone just for honking. The only way out is having more RTC buses.

[Traxter]

So look like this topic has been discussed already - so sad we live in a country where nothing will be done about them. Once in a while a driver or two may get thrashed but then the others carry on....

The horns themselves should be banned in the first place and I am pretty sure they are against existing noise pollution norms.

[Iluvcars]

Several lives end on the roads of Kerala thanks to private buses and the way they are driven. Believe me, when I was in Palakkad (Kerala) during Dec '09 / Jan '10, I was so scared to drive a 2 wheeler in the city, that I always took an auto even for quite short trips. The localites are so used to it that they found me amusing.

[neutralgrey]

Driving in Kerala is quite frankly very scary. The Thrissur-Guruvayoor route is quite an infamous one.

The bus drivers know for sure that you will take evasive action so they don't bother to. They are doing this for so long now that for them its like another law of nature.

Last weekend during my visit to Kerala, in the single lane Palakkad-Thrissur NH-47, a private bus coming in the opposite direction wanting to overtake a couple of trucks, came straight at me. I couldn't get off the road even if I wanted to (was quite steep on both sides of the road) so I came to a stop to the left (as much I dared to). Coz of that the bus driver had to slow down...he was cursing all the way till he passed me .

[pramodkumar]

traxter,

Trissur is a entirly different state when it comes to private buses, the buses do not issue tickets, if you want a roller coster ride you are welcome here, The roads where even a car wont dare to go beyond 40kmph, a bus drives at 60, the best experience can be had from the rear long bench seat where you will be in the air all the time an occassionaly the seat will come and touch your bottom.

Welcome to the land of street racing buses, this can be seen immediately after these buses cross the railway level crossing, the trissur waddakanchery road is the most dreaded, but all in all its a different world here.

Welcome to the cultural capital of gods own country.


Pramod

[aargee]

Just adding 2 cents on travelling between Thrissur-Wadakkanchery, Palarivattom-Muvattupuzha, Wadakkanchery-Guruvayoor on private buses.

1. You'll never be allowed to board the bus during stationary; means, the moment your toes (not the foot) touches the bus, the cleaner/conductor blocks his hands on the door in such a way that you don't fall & whistles at the same time.
2. If you don't get down from the bus the moment you hear the whistle, then you're sure to get down in the next stop. I'd a bad experience with my Son when I visited Wadakkanchery from Thrissur
3. Last seats are as good as to be avoided

The reason for all the above being that there're several buses plying in the private route & there's a bus for every 3-5 minutes & no one is allowed to be ahead or behind their scheduled time.

Only one positive point that I can say is, the buses are in mint condition and punctuality.

[tsk1979]

The date was somewhere in 1999 or maybe 2000. Time early evening. I have been standing at the bus stop for a long time. There never is too much wait between buses. Its drizzing lightly, and soon it will be a torrent.
Then suddenly I hear a faint roar getting louder. Its the sound of big engines, revving to the redline, and also faint screams, as the passengers wail in terror.
The screams and the roar get louder, and I realize its not one bus, but two, hurtling down at 3 digit speeds, towards the bus stop.
I am the only passenger, and may times the buses do not stop when they are racing, but someone one of them takes pity, and 50 meters from the stop he steps on the brakes.
The rear tires lock up, and the tire smokes hellfire, and with a screech that is more terrifying than the cry of the Nazgul, the bus skids to a halt right in front of me.
I jump on the overcrowded bus, and as my feet leave the ground, The driver revvs the engine and dumps the cluch. With a lurch and a wheelspin, the bus launches.
the racing buddy is far ahead now, and at the next stop they will pick up the passengers, leading to loss of revenue for this one.
But our guy is not to be outdone, and he redlines the bus, all window panes shake, and from the loud whistle I can make out its a turbo diesel engine.
Even the speedo works, which means it is new.
I glance at the needle and realize we have crossed 80, and a long straght downhill stretch is coming. Far away I can see that the other bus is taking passengers, so we won't be doing any stopping here.
The needle creeps up, and soon its past 100, the whole bus, seats, passengers and even earth is shaking.
Just as the other bus starts moving, we cross it in a blur, and soon the straight section starts becoming a gentle curve.
But instead of the brakes he taps the acclerator. Being an ace race driver, he knows, never brake on a curve, accelerate on it.
As the road curves, he twists the mammoth steering, and the tail starts stepping out.
We are drifting, a bit too much, and soon we will be off the road.
Our racer is not perturbed, and lets physics rule the bus goes off the road, blows through a few low hanging branches, wiggles its tail and the rear hits something solid like a tree.
There are screams, and the thunk straightens the bus, and our racer is back in control.
The drive chats something in malayalam with his navigator, and they both laugh as he gets up to take the tickets.
I am sweating, because today, once again like millions of other journeys I cheated death. I will cheat death till 2001, as I ride the dragon every second day, for its the only connection of our college to the city.
That my friends sums of a north kerala private bus.
Ticket was 7rs, much cheaper than six flags, and the thrills, they were real, not some artificial reality designed to make you feel thrilled in complete safety.

[myavu]

Pvt. Buses and Tippers rules Kerala roads. I remember my horrible 10 year ride on my Shogun in between those street racing from Mulanthuruthy to Ernakulam City. One mid 2004 this happened at Mulanthuruthy Junction scrapping a Tourist Taxi and an Autorickshaw. The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : 18 injured as bus overturns

Government implemented Speed Governors on all Buses and Tippers but was not tamper proof.

These racing and rash driving will never end and we people have to win a lottery to reach point B safely

VINU

[amitoj]

@Tsk: That sure brings back some memories! By the way, what made you go to the city every second day?

You know why buses there have no window panes? Weight reduction man!