Volvo vs E-Shivneri bus: Frequent traveller does a detailed comparison

Just 5 minutes into the journey the E-Shivneri stops for no reason, then the driver manages to get the bus rolling

BHPian ArTigor recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently undertook a journey from Pune to Mumbai using the Shivneri service. This time it was the E-Shivneri which are basically the Olectra Bus models. Although this was my first ride with the E-Shivneri, I actually got to travel in 2 of these Olectra buses, more details on this later in the post.

I have been using the Shivneri Buses for almost more than a decade now, have got the opportunity to ride in multiple bus models that MSRTC used for the Shivneri, i.e. Volvo single and multiaxle, Scania, Mercedes & Cerita, there was one more model which I am unable to remember. The Volvo, Scania and Mercedes were super comfortable and I personally liked the ride quality of the Scania.

So those who are not from the state of Maharashtra let me explain what is the Shivneri bus service.

The Shivneri bus service was started somewhere between 2007-2009(cannot remember the exact year), as the demand for travel by road between Mumbai and Pune by road had increased multifold due to the Expressway. There were many private operators like Purple-Metrolink, Neeta, etc who were running air-conditioned & Volvo buses on this route, but these bus services had multiple issues which are as follows:

Punctuality: these private buses had to wait till the last seat was filled, there was a high chance that your bus is stationary for almost 20 minutes to fill up vacant seats and takes at least 2 hours to just exit the city limits. Overall travel time would be anywhere between 4 to 5 hours.

Maintenance: these private Volvos were poorly maintained and sometimes dirty! Breakdowns were a common sight, also back then during 2008-9 the expressways did not have speeding cameras and there used to be reckless driving by these Volvo drivers, especially I found the Neeta drivers to be more reckless.

So the above mentioned gaps were plugged by MSRTC when they Introduced the Shivneri buses, this was a premium service which ran between Mumbai(Dadar) and Pune(Railway station). There were dedicated ticket counters and bays for the service at Pune, while initially in Dadar the boarding-alighting happened along the road kerb side, but then the service shifted to the dedicated bus station under the Dadar flyover. These were mostly based on Volvo, save for a few Cerita and Mercedes models.

The Shivneri service was an instant hit as it provided one with:-

• Clean well maintained buses
• Courteous drivers
• Proper schedule and buses available every 30 minutes.
• Punctual! Let's say a bus is supposed to depart at 11.30 am an it has only 10 passengers, it would depart exactly at 11.30 and not wait for more passengers to be picked up at the starting station, although it would halt on the way out of the city at MSRTC designated stops to pick up passengers, but these halts would be for max 2-5 minutes.
• Travel time reduced from 4-5 hours to 3-3.5 hours, some times during early morning the travel time was even less than 3 hours.
• Super comfortable ride quality.

All these factors made the Shivneri a super hit amongst travellers.

Now coming to the present date, I know that the Shivneri Service has now been running the Olectra Bus for few months and I was looking forward to travel in it. Took the journey from Pune(Swargate) to Mumbai(Dadar). As this was an unplanned journey could not book tickets in advance so had to rely on current reservation at Swargate, by the way, current ticketing system at Swargate is a mess, better get your ride from Pune Station depot in case of unreserved tickets as it is much better organized over there.

The current reservation at 7 am was utter chaos at the Swargate bus station, buses were running late, some bus services were also being clubbed, I.e. the 7 am and 7.30 am bus service got clubbed, but then at 7.30 they had 2 buses ready to depart! stupid management.

So I finally boarded the E-Shivneri, these are swanky new buses with good clean interiors, I found the seats spacious and comfortable with good legroom, although the cabin width felt narrower than the Volvos.
The bus departed Swargate bus station and the first thing I noticed is each and every bump/undulation on the road was felt, surely the suspension on these are not the carpet like quality of the Volvos, here the Volvos are a league ahead.

Just 5 minutes into the journey the bus stops for no reason, then the driver manages to get the bus rolling, but after a kilometer or so the bus again stops and fails to move, now this was bad as I took the early morning bus as I had a meeting in Mumbai. The bus driver informed us that there is some malfunction and they are arranging for another bus.

MID showed low battery, but that couldn't have been the case as it was the first trip after overnight charging. It took the other bus an hour to arrive. The replacement was also an Olectra bus.This bus took another 1.5 hours to exit the city as it halted for at least 10-15 minutes at each pickup stop.

I also figured that in case the bus breaks down the Shivneri ticket is not refundable. The only option you have is to either wait at the mercy of MSRTC to send a new bus or accommodate you in the buses running(if there is a vacant seat) or you forego your money and look at other options to continue your journey.

Well the other Olectra also had the same ride quality, so now it was clear that these Olectra buses are actually inferior in ride quality to Volvos. MSRTC with their Volvos have set a high benchmark.

The second issue I noticed is with the jerky pickup and braking, especially there seems to be some issue with the braking it always felt harsh. Either the regen isn't set right, or the driver wasn't used to the Electric Bus, or maybe Olectras regen can not achieve a deceleration like a conventional ICE engine braking, something was surely off.

So overall I feel the Volvos were much better, and these Olectras cannot hold a candle to them. MSRTC should seriously take lessons from KSRTC on how to keep upgrading premium bus services.

I know that many of us might feel that the comparison between the Volvo and Olectra might not be an apple to apple comparison, but then as a customer when I am paying (535 rupees for a journey) for apples I expect apples. I am not against E-Buses, but all I mean is that the quality of service should be at least on par. I also feel that the Olectras may not hold tight as the Volvos in the long run after a few years, I hope I am proven wrong though.

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