Team-BHP - Intercity Bus travel reviews

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolclouds (Post 1501083)

Kerala RTC online booking website is under construction for more than two years! Its nice to hear that the site is ready but don't know how much time still it will take to launch.

I am not sure which site are you talking about, but the site that I am talking about, appeared only in Feb this year. Since then, Kerala SRTC introduced networked booking (that is anywhere to anywhere booking is possible - but only for buses departing from stations that have computerised booking facility), increased their booking period to 21 days, and so on.

The site was revamped recently, and field for user registration, etc have appeared. That surely is a good signs of things changing in the recent future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by benbsb29 (Post 1487571)

I am really curious to know why Raj Travels shut down. The couple of times i used their service, i was quite impressed. The quality of their buses was also good.

WAS .. yes was.

How would u feel if u were woken up in the middle of the night on the border, asked to hop onto the other bus waiting on the other side of the border and vice versa for passengers of that bus just because the operator didnt want to spend money on getting permits for various states?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia (Post 1503371)

Well, there are some other operators who are also guilty of the same, Bunny. My very first post in this thread mentions about Shama who resorted to the same practice. They however, are still very much in operation.

Source- The Hindu

DISFIGURED: The mangled remains of the lorry that collided with a private bus near Dharmapuri on Sunday. —

DHARMAPURI: Five persons were killed in a collision involving a private bus and a lorry near Dharmapuri on Sunday.
The accident took place near Kundalpatti on National Highway 7. The bus was on its way to Madurai from Bangalore. The lorry was proceeding to Krishnagiri from Sangagiri.
The dead were identified as Natraj (42), the bus driver from Marandaalli in Dharmapuri district; H. Yasin, three-year old child, from Salem; and Sify, Professor at Azhagappa University, Karaikudi, and native of Trivandrum. The identity of two others was not known.

It was time for another trip to Kerala and this time decided to go by bus than driving down. Onward journey was in a SRM multi-axle Volvo. It left Madiwala at 1910hrs, and had a few passenger & luggage pick up stops on the way as usual. The bus was really comfortable as compared to single-axle volvos. I was sitting in the 4th row and this might have also contributed to a better ride. The bus dropped me off at Ambalapuzha at 0530hrs, effectively it took just 10.5hrs for making a journey of about 600kms. That is very impressive. clap:

Return was in a Shama volvo. I had vowed quiet sometime back that I wont travel in one, but due to non-availability of tickets (or more commission to the travel agent) I didn't have a choice. The bus was delayed by about 30mins, nothing new. However, to add excitement to the trip, the bus was overheating. Speeds had to be kept below 80kmph and after reaching Cherthala, they stopped the bus at a motel and switched it off. It was let to cool off for close to an hour. Again, it stopped after Edappaly for 45mins :Frustrati. Something that suprised me was that the driver and cleaner was filling normal water in the coolant tank. Do these engines still use water as coolant??

After making a hue and cry, it was decided that we'll continue in this bus till Coimbatore, where we can switch to another Shama Volvo that was bound for Adoor. Seems that the seats occupied were low and passengers were transferred to another bus. The new bus was also keeping to a speed limit of around 80kmph. I was dropped off at Silk Board at around 1000hrs. Shama, never again. Their buses are getting old and it seems break-downs and slow driving are becoming the norm.

Meanwhile, if you see PK Travels written on some Shama Volvos, don't be suprised. It seems PK Travels has taken 3 Volvos from Shama on lease and is running them from Adoor, Cochin and Trivandrum (not 100% sure of the routes). Also, by mid-month, they may get a Mercedes Benz bus too.

@Unni : Looks like Shama is certainly going downhill with their service. My very intention of starting this thread was complaining about their service. However, to give due credit, they have been really good at times as well. I find their bus interiors are way more well-kept than some of the Kallada Volvos.

Our member and regular contributor to this thread - gold_class, has good contacts within Shama, and probably he would get the message across. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by benbsb29 (Post 1517209)

Yes, I too was a Shama fan. But not anymore. Kallada Volvos are even worse. Given a choice between Kallada and Shama, it is Shama. Unless its Kallada's multi-axle!!

I was going through the thread on the KPN accident and remembered an incident when going in SRM. A truck came onto the road from an intersection on the 4lane right before Coimbatore, and the driver had to brake hard and cross over to the oncoming side. Thankfuly there was no traffic on the oncoming lane! Guess, a lot of people just got plain lucky.

Quote:

..., to add excitement to the trip, the bus was overheating. Speeds had to be kept below 80kmph and after reaching Cherthala, they stopped the bus at a motel and switched it off. It was let to cool off for close to an hour. Again, it stopped after Edappaly for 45mins :Frustrati. Something that suprised me was that the driver and cleaner was filling normal water in the coolant tank. Do these engines still use water as coolant??

Meanwhile, if you see PK Travels written on some Shama Volvos, don't be suprised. It seems PK Travels has taken 3 Volvos from Shama on lease and is running them from Adoor, Cochin and Trivandrum (not 100% sure of the routes). Also, by mid-month, they may get a Mercedes Benz bus too.

About coolant- There is special coolant. But if there is a leak or a break in the pipe ,miing of water with coolant doesnt do much harm and break down do happens. Last week the brand new sopialines got stuck near mettur due to turbo failure and the seats had to be shifted.In motor vehicle field it happens. And about PK ,they where running shama s volvo in calicut route on a contract basis. But since there was an issue with roads closing down the contract was cancelled.But the sticker was still there.Now its changed back to shama.
The date is not confirmed ,testing is going on in pune factory. Shama is waiting for the delivery of multi-axle Mercedes benz lol:...

As far as I know all the engines use water as the coolant. the green stuff that you see is a type of Glycol, I think it is Ethylene Glycol. this is basically an antifreeze to help with cold starts especially in cooler climates with some additives to help keep the thin internal channels of the radiator and water jacket clean. The mix also has a higher boiling temperature than water alone. This allows for better rate of heat transfer and keeps the water from turning to steam at the first chance it gets. So it is the water which mainly does the cooling and it is perfectly alright to use water alone in an emergency.

These experiences are just not limited to private operators. I travelled by KSRTC Airavat Volvo bus last week from Hyderabad to Bangalore.

The bus started an hour late, The bus whenever approached a speed breaker or when the driver slowed down to negotiate bad roads, would break down and wouldn't start. The passengers were asked to get down and push the bus in pouring rain to help start the bus. This happened thrice.

Finally 100 kms before Bangalore the bus completely broke down and no matter how far we pushed the bus, it wouldnt start. We were asked to wait as another Volvo bus from Banglore was supposed to come and pick us up.

I chose not to waste time and stopped another private bus going to Banglore and reached banglore @ 12 noon.

One hell of an experience..