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Chennai-Trichy by bus: My first ride in a BharatBenz AC Sleeper-Seater

22nd May 2025, 14:33 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The inside of the cabin gave me the same feeling of what I'd experienced in the KSRTC Ambaari Dream Class back in 2022.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Introduction

This is a review cum travel experience of my first ride by a Bharat Benz AC Sleeper - Seater bus, built on an OF1824 chassis. The experience was good, but there are a few bits that need to be ironed out.

Background

Until the Covid shutdown, it was common to see premium services viz. Volvos, Scanias and Mercedes Benz operate on the south bound sector from Chennai (eg. Chennai to Trichy, Madurai, Nagercoil etc.). There were some popular operators like SRM Transports, Madurai Radha Travels, Parveen, Renganathan operating these premium services via Trichy.

Post Covid, many of the premium services disappeared. During a recent search, I found that a lot of new operators have come on the scene, but barring a handful, the rest operate AC Sleeper or AC Sleeper - Seater buses built on Ashok Leyland, Volvo-Eicher or Bharat Benz chassis. One such new operator is Lion Travels, and these posts summarise my travel experience on one of their Bharat Benz buses.

Disclaimer: This is just a review of a travel option and a particular bus; I am in no way associated with this establishment except that I completed my first travel with them, reasonably happy with the service.

Options available to me

I needed to travel to Trichy from Chennai and on the day of my travel, the afternoon Vande Bharat Express was not operating. Other trains were all full, and that made me turn to bus options. Had this been pre-2019, I'd have just chosen an AC seater OR AC Seater-Sleeper service by SETC and made my way, but things have gotten complicated now.

All south bound buses now originate and terminate at a brand new bus terminal called KCBT, which is on the GST Road, 30km and approx. 1hr from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT)
SETC's air-conditioned services (the white buses) are now at the end of their life cycle and the fleet is being revamped, so there is a strong chance that the condition of the white buses would have gone south
SETC has dropped their top speed to 75kmph, and gone are the bypass services; that makes the ride from KCBT to Trichy at a minimum of 6hrs 30 mins, which is too much considering that I have done Trichy to CMBT or vice versa in 6hrs 30mins to 6hrs 40 mins by SETC until 2018

Examining other options

I examined all options on a popular bus aggregator site, and narrowed down my options to four:

Nuego Electric
SK Balu Travels
Renganathan Travels
Lion Travels

Option 1 was rejected outright in view of uncertainties around their stop time for charging. Option 2 was good, but only the last upper berth was available on the 12:30pm service. Option 3 was a 3pm departure, while option 4 was an earlier 1:45pm departure from CMBT.

I chanced upon a YouTube short on Lion Travels and was very impressed with what was spoken about the service; decided to give it a shot. Sleeper and seating options were available on this bus, and I took the seater, since this was just an afternoon ride. I was there at the CMBT Private Bus Stand, and lo and behold, the bus was there - looking stunning in yellow!

SK Balu Travels - sample image