[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by hrn658276

I exactly know which company has invested what. ....

Volvo has done investment for the manufacturing only. Most of their products are almost a staraight lift from other markets. homologated and sold in India. They do all their trials with customers only.
To my knowledge only 9100 was seen as On test board and

[poloman]

Going by your logic Indians should buy only Tata or Mahindra cars. In today's times no one whether, it is Govt or ordinary consumers are not worried whether it is Desi or MNC, all they want is value, reliability and profitability. No one is stopping AL or Tata to compete with volvo with a 1Cr product. Govt can't pay money for their R&D.
Why one should not talk about Marco Polo when it comes to Tata? They have become white elephants and total write offs atleast with BMTC. No one wants to ride in them. They were given as contract buses for my company and withdrawn in one month due to complaints. Their drivers were telling stories of constant breakdowns and horrible user experience.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by poloman

No one is stopping AL or Tata to compete with volvo with a 1Cr product.

No one stopped Volvo to compete in Delhi too, but as mentioned earlier, they could not meet the cost. Majority of public transport users do not want to pay for luxuries for the simple reason of affordability.

[cawnpore ghost]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

What kind of buses are they? I dont understand how something unique has happened to Kanpur supplies alone.

Sorry for the belated response, but the condition of JNNURM buses is truly appaling in Kanpur. Attached alongwith is the newspaper article from Dainik Jagran dated 22 November. And I sincerely hope that the apathy discontinues soon.

[Rovergen]

Any news on Hyundai buses , there was a news they would enter INDIAN market with intecity first .
By the Way Volvo's are VFM provided you get a seat to sit , no fun in paying so high ticket price and if you are pushed around standing .

[maddy42]

Good initiative by the government but i strongly feel we should not make one rule and try fit the same model everywhere but instead make a specific observation of the local requirement and tailor a product for it. Delhi BRTS was bad by Guj was a success. So we cant draw a conclusion from the same.

Originally Posted by hrn658276

If you pay 1 crore to Tata or AL for a bus, I am sure you will definitely get a great product.

Just saying this is similar to saying i pay 10 lacs for a Tata car and so i expect a bullet proof product. Does it happen that way?

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by cawnpore ghost

Sorry for the belated response, but the condition of JNNURM buses is truly appaling in Kanpur. Attached alongwith is the newspaper article from Dainik Jagran dated 22 November. And I sincerely hope that the apathy discontinues soon.

Can you plz give a snapshot of the translation?

[msmatic]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

Majority of public transport users do not want to pay for luxuries for the simple reason of affordability.

This is not true. Consumers do not have many options in our country when it comes to comfortable public transport. When Volvos were introduced in Bangalore, a lot of people left their vehicles at home and started commuting in them. Why - it provided stress free, pollution free, comfortable ride for a price lower than running a car and slightly higher than a two wheeler. BMTC for its part has also been intelligent enough to ply them on routes which would benefit majority of office goers, and not on every nook and corner of the city. Everyone deserves comfortable transport and when there are options available people will pay for it.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Can you plz give a snapshot of the translation?

Headline says: "System Punctured, City buses Dumped in Depot". Main news describes how the bus service is being wasted by the authorities.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by msmatic

This is not true. Consumers do not have many options in our country when it comes to comfortable public transport. When Volvos were introduced in Bangalore, a lot of people left their vehicles at home and started commuting in them. Why - it provided stress free, pollution free, comfortable ride for a price lower than running a car and slightly higher than a two wheeler. BMTC for its part has also been intelligent enough to ply them on routes which would benefit majority of office goers, and not on every nook and corner of the city. Everyone deserves comfortable transport and when there are options available people will pay for it.

My comment was for Delhi. People in Delhi want comfortable public transport but at no additional cost to them.

Majority of people in here will take cars to their offices even if the nearest bus stop is less than 100m from their destinations. This is mainly due to the fact that at office hours all the buses are jam packed and it requires a lot of courage to board such bus. Pickpockets and hooligans add to their troubles. Above all, people are lazy to spend any more time in traveling than the time the spend in their cars. I hope that the buses will attract more office goers once most of the roads in Delhi are converted to BRT corridors and bus commute takes half the time than in a car.

Once I took an AC bus from my home to nearest metro station in Gurgaon at around 5:00PM. After 3-4 stops, a group of construction workers boarded the bus after their day long work at sites. Trust me, it was hard to sit in the bus with all the sweat stink being circulated through the vents. Later i realised that the bus is running on'Normal fare' for few days.

[cawnpore ghost]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Can you plz give a snapshot of the translation?

No of buses alloted:300, Total acquired till date: 270, Low floor AC: 10, Low floor non AC: 10, Standard city bus: 250, Low floor AC unit price: 65 lakh, Non AC: 55 lakh, Standard: 13 lakh, Total number of drivers: 600, Ticket collectors: 590,
Total number of buses still on road: 80
Total number of buses dumped in the depot: 190
The resons for dumping have been stated as the high cost of maintenance and low fuel efficiency. A bailout of Rs 5 cr was sponsered by the Metropolitan's Developent Authority but it never made its presence felt.

[bhp_maniac]

This is another great initiative by GoI but its difficult to generate revenues if the execution is not done well. I live in Kochi, Kerala and my hometown is some 50km from here. I have a routine timed job from 9 to 5. Recently JNNURM volvo started operating in this route and I was very happy to hear that. But hearing the timings they operate, I was like For e.g. I have this bus starting at 7AM every morning from Kochi to my hometown. If it was the other way around, I am 100% sure they might've generated great profit. I know at least 10-15 people who drive their cars from my hometown to Kochi and another 10-15 who usually take private buses. All of them are willing to pay the premium, but what if the authorities are executing the wrong way !!!

[theMAG]

All I can say is that the Volvos are unmatched in their class and maturity - something every other manufacturer has tried and fallen short, including the Coronas. I hope we see yet more Volvos plying our city roads with all these urban renewal schemes.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

This is another great initiative by GoI but its difficult to generate revenues if the execution is not done well. I live in Kochi, Kerala and my hometown is some 50km from here. I have a routine timed job from 9 to 5. Recently JNNURM volvo started operating in this route and I was very happy to hear that. But hearing the timings they operate, I was like For e.g. I have this bus starting at 7AM every morning from Kochi to my hometown. If it was the other way around, I am 100% sure they might've generated great profit. I know at least 10-15 people who drive their cars from my hometown to Kochi and another 10-15 who usually take private buses. All of them are willing to pay the premium, but what if the authorities are executing the wrong way !!!

This is so very true. Here's a writeup that recently came up.

Though the Kochi Corporation and the KSRTC are vying with each other for controlling the 166 low-floor buses purchased under the JNNURM scheme, neither agency is serious about ensuring optimal utility of the costly fleet.

Two years after the 48 AC and 118 non-AC services were launched in Kochi, the KSRTC is yet to streamline the operation of the buses. Groups of buses often ply as a bunch along the same route. While the buses that ply early get passengers, the others are almost empty.

While admitting that there are anomalies in their operation, a KSRTC official said that the timings of low-floor buses often clash with that of Thirukochi and other buses operated by the agency.

“Steps are being taken to overcome the overlapping of services, since this is resulting in low passenger patronage, affecting the collection per bus. The collection of most city services is less than the desired earnings of Rs. 53 per km. Those plying to suburban towns and other districts are raking in better income.”

The RTC is planning to take action against errant crew if there are complaints of buses skipping stops. There are complaints of non-AC buses not stopping at bus stops, even on request. Complaints against the crew of AC buses are less, probably because they are trained in behaving courteously to passengers.

The KSRTC admits that the non-AC buses are more prone to break downs. There are also complaints that their interiors and exteriors are not properly cleaned. This is one reason for the buses enjoying low passenger patronage.

Though AC buses can be fitted with Global Positioning Systems so that passengers can know the exact location of each bus, the facility has not been activated.

On its part the Kochi Corporation has not readied infrastructure such as well-kept bus stops and footpaths.

Most of the existing stops and footpaths are in a dilapidated condition. Neither have parking lots been made available near major bus stops. These facilities would have increased the patronage of low-floor and other buses.

Different perceptions

Though major cities have a unified metropolitan transport authority that oversees all transportation modes, Kochi does not have one.

As a result, the KSRTC and Kochi Corporation have different perceptions about bus routes.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

This is so very true. Here's a writeup that recently came up.

While admitting that there are anomalies in their operation, a KSRTC official said that the timings of low-floor buses often clash with that of Thirukochi and other buses operated by the agency.

Those plying to suburban towns and other districts are raking in better income.

The RTC is planning to take action against errant crew if there are complaints of buses skipping stops. There are complaints of non-AC buses not stopping at bus stops, even on request.

The KSRTC admits that the non-AC buses are more prone to break downs. There are also complaints that their interiors and exteriors are not properly cleaned. This is one reason for the buses enjoying low passenger patronage.

I had the same issues in timing with buses to infopark region also. Initially they had buses which reach infopark by 8.45 during the time when my car was happily parked at my apartment, but the honeymoon days were soon over and the timings were changed in a way that the buses reach there around 9.30-9.45. There were no Thirukochi or even any other KSRTC services to this region during this time. In fact the thing is that the timings were overlapping with those "red colored" people killing private buses in this region and so they re-timed them. Corrupted authorities is simply the reason why activities like JNNURM are not generating the expected response. Timing is the basic thing to be corrected, rest assured the thing will be a success 99%.

Regarding non-AC buses skipping stops, yes I have seen this umpteen times near my bus stop, Elangulam near Kadavanthra even though the buses had seating available.

Also the interior quality of these non-AC buses are horrible that some old trucks rattle much lesser.