[TheARUN]

These busses are registered under the Motor Vehicle Act as AITOB - All India Tourist Omni Bus. They are charged tax on a seat basis, and can have a minimum of 18 seats and a maximum of 39 seats.

Wonder how the guys are blatantly flouting the rules.

Read this, the Bus is supposed to be white colour only and has to have a blue line running all along with Tourist written in a blue circle on the sides.

The vehicles cannot be run from point-to-point. They have to be chartered only.

Guess its the chalta hai attitute we have

[neopats]

Have you ever wondered why the seat numbers of many buses start with A, B, C... and then 1, 2, 3...???

Thats because they only pay tax on seats with numbers (1,2,3...) and not alphabets (a,b,c...). The alphabet seats are supposed to be for staff and not passengers!!! I've seen seats till "P"... Thats 16 regular seats and 1 seat near the door for staff... Welcome to India... Sab kuch chalta hai...

But why have a limit to number of seats, when its safe and can move about on the roads? And whats the funda with white color and blue line? I've always seen it but whats the reason behind it?

[TheARUN]

And whats the funda with white color and blue line? I've always seen it but whats the reason behind it?[/quote]

Some Babus imagination or something the British left behind. Wonder why they chose the blue line to distinguish AITOBs from the remainder busses. Another strange thing is that the Motor Vehicle Act prescribes that all National Permit lorrys be painted brown, the brown you find on EICHER trucks.

[jkv]

Hi ..Attaching few more photos of the B9R which I got thru a friend of mine..The mileage of the bus is 3.2 in the Mumbai-Bangalore route..the display in the bus gives the trip fuel average as well as the total fuel average.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by backrub

I heard from a source that a private operator in Kerala has ordered 6 B9R's and they have something like cabins for family inside.

Originally Posted by backrub

Its Kallada transports from kerala, and as mentioned I am not sure. But with their current strength of about 17 volvos and almost all of them plying between cochin bangalore, it should be true.

It indeed is Kallada! Two B9Rs have been delivered - and I saw them standing outside their Madivala office today morning. They had a coffee brown colour, with a golden band running along the length of the bus. From outside it seemed like the bus had normal seats and no cabins. The buses were not registered.

Meanwhile, a new operator has begun operations between Trivandrum and Bangalore. The company is "Sofiya Lines". The bus they use is a B9R. The ticket is Rs. 1050 one way (Current B7Rs charge: Rs. 800~900).

This is the bus run by Sofiya:

[stampro]

Most important change VOLVO has brought into India is bringing down the height of drivers's seat and the height of Headlamps.
I see this being adapted by other bus users also.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by stampro

Most important change VOLVO has brought into India is bringing down the height of drivers's seat and the height of Headlamps.
I see this being adapted by other bus users also.

This design came to india ages before the Volvo came. This design was, AFAIK, first launched by Sutlej, and later made by Prakash (they called it "P5000"). On introduction of the Volvo, this design was phased out, and "Valvo" "Voivo" "Volva" "Volga", etc came in.

The drivers seat is still as high as it was prior to the introduction of Volvo. Even newly made models like the Leyland Luxura have driver seats much much higher than the Volvo.

[Torqy]

You need to learn a thing or two in bus design from our KSRTC (Kerala).
KSRTC has fantastic bus design which does a great job in population control. They're called KSRTC Super Fast buses. If you've seen how the driver seat is located, you don't need rocket science to figure out why they RUN OVER so many pedestrians and other "lowly" objects.

They sit so high but far away from the driver side pigeon hole (window). Imagine the angle of vision!

:(

[Jammy70]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Meanwhile, a new operator has begun operations between Trivandrum and Bangalore. The company is "Sofiya Lines". The bus they use is a B9R. The ticket is Rs. 1050 one way (Current B7Rs charge: Rs. 800~900).

This is the bus run by Sofiya:

I travelled by the same bus on 18th Mar, boarding from Cherthala, to B'lore; the ticket cost was 925/- for this sector. There were hardly any passengers - maybe 12-15 max. The agent in Cherthala was very excited as apparently I was the first one to book a ticket for this bus through them (the service had started couple of days prior to my DOJ) - he called me the next day to get my feedback !

The ride was very comfortable (I was on row 4) and the driver was literally flying it! The bus left Cherthala just after 9pm, stopped at one of the bunks before the Coimbatore bypass at 1.10am, was at Thoppur toll gate at 4.15am before I disembarked at Silkboard Junction at 6.20am - in all just over 9 hours from Cherthala (approx 590km)!

I remember these timings 'coz I kept waking up each time he stopped... peeped over the driver's shoulder just as he pulled away from Thoppur and noticed he was comfortably cruising at 130kph.

cheers,

[m_upreti]

Had my first look of this giant today on Mumbai - Pune highway, this bus looks real huge, and the driver was literally flying it.

[anekho]

According to a local swedish newspaper, Volvo Buses has received an order of 260 new buses.
Of these 260, 120 are the long distance bus 9400, and the remaining 140 have been purchased by Bangalore's BMTC.

The buses will be delivered in 2009.

source: Branschnyheter - Volvo får order på 260 bussar till Indien (News dated 30th March 2009)

EDIT: btw, man I love these beasts!

cheers

[arunmur]

Originally Posted by Jammy70

I remember these timings 'coz I kept waking up each time he stopped... peeped over the driver's shoulder just as he pulled away from Thoppur and noticed he was comfortably cruising at 130kph.

cheers,

Great, the old Volvo could not cross 110kmph(would max out at 100 in most stretches). Now the car drivers have to bear the bus drivers bragging at 120+ kmph. God save small cars, esp Nano and the likes doing a max of 80 kmph.




This is really insane stretch, newly laid 4 lanes and two wheelers drive in the opposite side in the middle of the road and flash lights at fast on-coming vehicles like they can disappear out of sight in a flash.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by stampro

Most important change VOLVO has brought into India is bringing down the height of drivers's seat and the height of Headlamps.
I see this being adapted by other bus users also.

I think what matters most is the boarding height of the buses. For Volvo, since the boarding height is low, the driver also sits lower. The chassis matters most.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by Jammy70

I remember these timings 'coz I kept waking up each time he stopped... peeped over the driver's shoulder just as he pulled away from Thoppur and noticed he was comfortably cruising at 130kph.

cheers,

130! That is insane! Plus they would know the roads in and out and rip at every possible stretch of the road!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

130! That is insane! Plus they would know the roads in and out and rip at every possible stretch of the road!

Then how do you think these guys cover the distance from Trivandrum to Bangalore is around 13-14 hours! The good old leylands require 16-18 hours for the distance!

The best (or the worst, as you may think) of the lot are Kerala SRTC guys - they do TVM to Bangalore in just 13 hours! They rip in every possible stretch - but still overtake with utmost caution! I traveled in one of those buses end to end, and I was not scared even in a single stretch! The driver knew the road like the back of his hand, and did every move very cautiosly!

He was surely never below 110~120kmph at most stretches!

These guys even do Trivandrum to Ernakulam in just 4 hours including a break for tea, picking up passengers, etc. Normal buses take atleast 6-7 hours for this stretch!