KSRTC gets own Mercedes luxury buses

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has now inducted Mercedes-Benz buses in its fleet: Mr. R. Ashok, Chairman and Mr. Gaurav Gupta, M.D, KSRTC was handed-over the keys of KSRTC’s Mercedes-Benz Luxury Two axle coaches by Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India.

The KSRTC Mercedes buses will run on the following routes

Bangalore-Mysore : 07:40hrs, 08:40hrs, 17:10hrs, 17:30hrs ( Fare: Rs:260/-)
Mysore- Bangalore: 12:10hrs, 12:40hrs, 20:30hrs, 20:50hrs ( Fare: Rs:260/-)

Bangalore-Shimoga: 10:00hrs, 14:00hrs (Fare: Rs 416/-)
Shimoga-Bangalore: 23:00hrs, 23:30hrs (Fare: 416/-)

Bangalore-Tirupathi: 10:45 hrs, 23:00hrs (Fare: 370/- and Rs 400/-)
Tirupathi-Bangalore: 12:15hrs, 23:15hrs

Bangalore-Chennai: 23:40 (Fare: Rs: 620)
Chennai:Bangalore: 22:25

Bangalore-Hyderabad: 20:40(Fare: Rs 780)
Hyderabad-Bangalore: 17:30

Volvo opens bus centers in India

After establishing its leadership position in the market in the luxury segement for city buses and inter-city coaches, Volvo Buses is once again leading the change towards progress in the area of after sales. Mr. Akash Passey, Managing Director, Volvo Buses India and Rune Lundberg, Senior Vice President-Marketing, Volvo Buses Interntional launched another first – The Volvo Bus Centre – a successful global after sales model in India.

Volvo Buses has embarked upon restructuring its after sales service, so as to provide customers with a single point interface and an experience that is at par with international standards. Volvo Buses will soon start upgrading 5 of it service dealers across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Volvo Buses currently provides after-sales support to its customers jointly with Volvo Trucks. However, with the fast changing market environment & increased concenteration of Volvo Buses in regions, these focused Volvo Bus Centres are being established.


Volvo Bus Centre will provide a unique retail experience to its customers. From its current capability of offering repairs and spare part network, the new Volvo Bus Center will now additionally offer Accident Repairs, Parts Warehouse, Refurbishment, Special Bus Technicians and Soft Offers that will provide a complete Volvo Brand Experience such as Merchandise, Advisory services and Training amongst others.

Akash Passey - "Our aim is to get closer to the customers and become a complete
solutions provider."

Customers will now be able to obtain assistance from choosing a vehicle to obtaining cettified service, prompt provision of spare parts.

See: Akash'a Passey's interview with us

Reader Feeback: Chennai to Trivandrum - Parveen travels

1. Your name: Praveen Paul
2. Route : Chennai - Trivandrum
3. Operator name : Parveen Travels
4. Bus brand : Mercedes Benz Multi axle
5. Month of travel : July

The travel Experience was very positive. The Bus was scheduled to leave Chennai Koyembedu at 8:00 PM to Trivandrum, the fare was Rs 1050 which is bit more than what the Volvo operators charge ( ~Rs 950). Due to traffic inside the Bus stand itself, we only managed to leave around 8:30. The Bus itself was what you would expect from a bus competing against the volvos : comfortable seats, excellent air conditioning and very smooth ride. Parveen Travels provided Complementary snacks for the journey, a very nice touch! The Drivers were friendly and didnt chat loudly all night or anything. There were 2 LCD tvs inside the bus and i was sitting at the front and the in bus entertainment is the usual Tamil movie. Unlike other volvos that i have traveled by, the front of the main aisle of the bus wasn't covered and you had a good view of the road ahead though there was no light problem from the oncoming traffic as the roads are 4 laned.


The bus traveled at a fast speed ~100 Km/h and made quick time (including a race with a KPN multi axle Volvo!) to get to Trivandrum by 8:15 AM, which is very fast considering that Anantapuri EXP takes 16 hours! All in all the journey was very pleasant, quiet and there were no unnecessary stops. I would really recommend travelling by Parveen's Mercedes bus!

For more reader reviews, CLICK HERE

Reader Feedback: Hyderarabad to Mangalore - Kesineni Travels

Your name: Deepak
Route: Hyderabad - Mangalore
Operator name: Kesineni Travels
Bus brand: Volvo 9400 6x2 B9R
Month of travel: June 2010
Short experience: Enjoyable & decent service

Rating:
· Bus Interiors: 4.75/5;
· Bus Exteriors: 4.5/5;
· Crew Service Courtesy: 4.75/5;
· Drive experience: 4.5/5;
· In-bus Entertainment: 4/5;



I had booked on this service from ‘Hyderabad (pick-up Kondapur, near Hitec city)’ to ‘Manipal –Bye-pass’. The pick-up time was scheduled to be 5:30 PM. Kesineni is covering pick-ups pretty well in South-West region of Hyderabad.

The B9R bus starts from Garage @ Nizampet road and picks up from Miyapur, Kondapur and last stop Mehedipatnam. There are van pick-ups from Erragadda, Ameerpet, Punjagutta. This is well handled in the website as they have online booking.

This 6X2; 9400 (B9R) has 49 seats. Last seats are normal seating. Since it is a semisleeper, the leg-space is pretty good.

Apart from Service to Mangalore from Hyderabad, Kesineni has B9R service to Goa, Coimbatore, Mumbai & Surat (via Mumbai, Valsad). Coimbatore & Mangalore service start at the same time.

At Kondapur the first service came was to Coimbatore at sharp 5:30 PM, followed by Mangalore at 5:45 PM. This lag was to handle the parking & boarding of Coimbatore bus at Mehedipatnam.

The bus had maroon color exteriors and blue interiors (regn: AP16TU6800), it appears that all their B9R have regn number ending with 00). The bus left Mehedipatnam at 6:35 PM to stop for dinner at Jadcherla by 7:45 PM. After dinner break at Jadcherla, with driver change the bus started around 8:15 PM on the route to Raichur-Koppal-Gadag-Hubli-Ankola-Kumta-Bhatkal-Kundapura-Udupi-Mangalore. The bus crossed Raichur around 10:20 PM and around 12:45 AM bus had stopped for loo and I was surprised to see then KSRTC B7R passing by (that was 1705HYDMNG service). The bus reached Hubli at 2:45 AM trailing behind the KSRTC B7R. KSRTC B7R entered the Hubli old bus stand for drop and this bus had advantage and started before B7R, after crossing Hubli at the outskirts this bus stopped around 3:00 AM for driver change and tea. After this the bus was speeding inspite of heavy down pour on NH17, when I opened my eyes the bus was crossing the Sharavathi Bridge and by 6:50 AM was at Bhatkal. He stopped for ladies to use the Ladies toilet at Hotel Vaibhav, then I saw 2 KSRTC B7R’s (1705HYDMNG & 1300MUMMNG) going towards Mangalore. Do not know when KESINENI had overtook them. The only hitch point was 12 passengers were picked from Bhatkal to Mangalore (assuming) and started towards Mangalore. Due to Heavy rains (Kundapura had experienced 27cm of rain in 24 hours) there were trees uprooted & encroached exactly infront of KSRTC bus stands. So this bus had to wait for close to 90 mins, till it was cleared. While KSRTC bus entered the Kundapura KSRTC bus stand and steered off ahead.

This bus left after the path was cleared and reached Udupi at 10:00 AM, Kesineni’s context Udupi Bus stand is Manipal Bye-pass as I expected. However while returning back from Mangalore it also enters Manipal (TC) for pick-up.

Had there been no block at Kundapura then it would have reached Udupi by 8:30 AM. A decent 15 hour journey covering 850 kms, even I cannot achieve this timing if I prefer to drive down by car.

This service is good competitor for KSRTC B7R & may propel KSRTC to upgrade to B9R.

The only drawback is that the blankets have no white linen as in KSRTC service.

For more reader feedbacks, CLICK HERE

DTC breaks all rules! Caught speeding

Common Wealth Games are just around the corner. The Government is trying to upgrade everything including the infrastructure. Right!!!
Weren't DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) buses fitted with speed governors? Isn't the speed limit in Delhi and NCR for buses 40km/h?
What we managed to get here is a scoop!! We caught a DTC bus going from Noida to Delhi on the DND (Delhi-Noida-Delhi) expressway at crazy speeds. The bus driver is even changing lanes and doing speeds of more than 80km/h. Safety be dammed it seems!



Who is responsible for this?

To see more videos of buses doing high speeds in India, CLICK HERE

Reader Feedback: KSRTC Mangalore to Hyderabad

By: Deepak Sarvade

Route: Mangalore-Hyderabad
Operator name: KSRTC (trip 1601MNGHYD & return 1705HYDMNG)
Bus brand: Volvo 9400 4x2 (B7R) -Mark III
Month of travel: June 2010
Short experience: Met expectations

Rating:
· Bus Interiors: 4.75/5;
· Bus Exteriors: 4.0/5;
· Crew Service Courtesy: 4.75/5;
· Drive experience: 4.0/5;
· In-bus Entertainment: 4.5/5;



I had booked on this service from ‘Udupi’ To Hyderbad (MGBS drop). I had booked sheet no: 26 (in new KSRTC 9400 series; the emergency door is here and get superb leg-space. The bus was scheduled to arrive at 17:15 hrs, and it arrived & left at 17:30. The KSRTC drivers focus on Fuel efficiency and a steady speed is maintained. At Kundapura, they stopped around for evening tea around 18:15 hrs. After the snacks the bus steered out and the movie that was played - Chachi 420. At around 21:30 hrs the bus stopped for dinner at Kamat Upahaar , Ankola. This seems to be a decent place.

With driving change, the bus departed at 22:00 and by 00:15 hours crossed Hubli old bus stand (no pickup or drop). By 3:00 hrs this stopped at Koppal outskirt for driving change. The bus reached Raichur at 5:00 hrs. When I got-up it was around 6:45 hrs and the bus was crossing Mahbubnagar town and since it was not raining the sun rays did not make me to sleep further. The bus stopped for morning tea at Jadcherla (not called for) for 30 mins at 7:15hrs & reached MGBS by 9:15 hrs as expected. Though the KSRTC time is 9:45 hrs; there were times when this bus has reached MGBS at 7:30 hrs.

The monsoon plays havoc on NH17 killing the road & increases the travel time.

If KSRTC updates the service to B9R it would be fun, to see the competition on road between Kesineni and KSRTC. The rumor is that soon this service would be updated to B9R.

Now this service has both pick-up and drop at Manipal. So students travelling to Manipal from Hyderbad need to select Udupi and then drop or pick point as ‘Manipal bus stand’.

KSRTC has added another service from Mangalore to Hyderabad & back (1300MNGHYD & 1230HYDMNG), this service was going full in May. With Kesineni this service is not full, not sure how long the additional service would be in place.

For more Reader Feedbacks, CLICK HERE

Reader Feeback: DOLPHIN SIDDIQUE TRAVEL

By: Anonymous

Pathetic service by bus driver-Issue with AC, Leakage and mis-behaviour

I have trvelled on 25 aug 2010 , from Thane to Shirdi
I have booked my ticket from Karishma Travells(Teen hath Naka,Udan Pull,Near Telco Co. LBS marg ,022-25806303)
We all pasangers have been given ticket for AC bus charging rs. 250/- Bus-Dolphin number (MH-04 G-5444)
ticket number 1494 seat no. 16
Bus has started moving at 10.30.
It was suphocating badly so all passanger including me asked driver to start AC, but he completly ignored us. At bhiwandi all passanger shouted at him to start AC and then he used really rubbish language. He did not start AC at all.
After some time it started raining heavily and his bus started leaking. So all of us had to suffer alot during whole night. We all decided to take this issue forward so I called Siddique travells (o2224173717) DADAR office. And we explained whole issue. Their Agent said Mr. Naushad is owner of this firm and nobody have guts to go against him. I told him we are suufering and instead of giving solutions or sympathy he again misbehaved with me.
I found that its waste in talking with him and I asked him Mr. Naushad's number. But he talked so rudely and put the phone down.
Now my concern is if this private tourist companies misbehaving with customers who pays them the amount they say aren't deserve atleast good service??

READ ALL READER FEEDBACKS HERE

RSRTC Volvo B7R caught weaving dangerously

Recently we at travelbyvolvo caught this RSRTC (Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation) Volvo B7R caught weaving dangerously through traffic.
The bus, on its way from New Delhi to Jaipur, had just crossed the Gurgaon toll plaza. In traffic, it is doing speeds around 70-80km/h and further at 1:40min in the video, u can see the way it overtakes the 3-wheeler!



For all videos of such buses by us, CLICK HERE

Mercedes multi-axle bus : cruising @ 105km/h video

After so many Volvo videos, we caught the newly launched Mercedes multi-axle bus on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
This bus was been run by Neeta travels and being new, the driver was holding around 102-104km/h constantly.
The white bus does look majestic and we can only imagine how it will be driven after a proper run-in.



Enjoy the video. For all videos on luxury buses till date, CLICK HERE

MSRTC Shivneri Volvo B7R : 110km/h in rains!

When was the last time you felt safe doing 110km/h in a car in rains. Ok, let us put it this way - when was the last time you felt safe while being a bus doing 110km/h. Surprised.
Well, Volvo buses are known for their safety and hence it comes as no surprise when we caught this MSRTC Shivneri Volvo B7R doing speeds between 105-110km/h in rains on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. See for yourself!



To see all our videos on these buses, CLICK HERE

Isuzu bus caught speeding over 110km/h

From across the country, we have been bringing you exclusive videos of luxury buses caught speeding. And this time we are in North India.
We caught this Isuzu luxury bus, running under the Haryana Roadways scheme, speeding enroute Delhi. As you can see, at times the bus is even doing over a 110km/h!



While we do understand that these buses like Isuzu and Volvo are fast, but is it really safe to drive like this? You decide

RELATED SPEEDING VIDEOS - CLICK HERE