[unk9ja]

Saw 2 Jabbar - National co-branded Volvo multiaxle buses near their usual stop in Basavanagudi, neither had a number on them. Buses seem to be brand new from the finish on the outside. There were no attendents near the bus to enquire about the service.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by unk9ja

Saw 2 Jabbar - National co-branded Volvo multiaxle buses near their usual stop in Basavanagudi, neither had a number on them. Buses seem to be brand new from the finish on the outside. There were no attendents near the bus to enquire about the service.

Oh! Did you seem them today? They got two new buses last week as well! Wonder which route these guys would go on.

One new bus, which I spotted last week: This one runs Bangalore-Chennai.

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Oh! Did you seem them today? They got two new buses last week as well! Wonder which route these guys would go on.

One new bus, which I spotted last week: This one runs Bangalore-Chennai.
Attachment 1013539

The bus was similar to the one in photo, but with small change in paint scheme. The front of the bus did not have so much of white to it. The buses were spotted today morning on my way to office, but found only one during my return.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by unk9ja

The bus was similar to the one in photo, but with small change in paint scheme. The front of the bus did not have so much of white to it. The buses were spotted today morning on my way to office, but found only one during my return.

Maybe one of them already went for service. Could you please share where exactly did you see them? Is it the same place near SRS Petrol Bunk? There is a school and a Maruti dealership nearby.

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Maybe one of them already went for service. Could you please share where exactly did you see them? Is it the same place near SRS Petrol Bunk? There is a school and a Maruti dealership nearby.

Past the petrol bunk towards the south end near the Cresent school. There are a couple of run down buses parked inside the compound at the corner. These Volvos were parked on the roadside. A month back, one of the bus was removed from the compound and towed away. Another one belonging to KPN, but without any badging (With TN regn and nr, ending with S 9199) was also parked on the roadside which is also missing for quite sometime.

[aroonanand]

Just completed a trip from Bangalore to Trivandrum over the weekend and here's my review:

Onward: SRM Transports Multi Axle from Madiwala at 7 PM (via Alleppy)

The bus was already in the petrol bunk adjacent to the SRM office by 640PM and was a new B9R with I-shift automatic transmission. The bus had ~140k on the odo and was clean. The bus was full at Madiwala itself and we left at 705 PM. Crew was polite at boarding and we had 2 drivers + 1 cleaner. Took the elevated road but had massive traffic jams at Attibele, both at the toll and even thereafter due to cracker shopping + heavy traffic. Finally crossed Hosur ~920 PM, dinner break at the usual Krishna Cafe / McD after which I slept off. Driving was sedate with no excessive honking or braking. Was woken up past midnight when we crossed Coimbatore and entered Kerala (the pothole laden roads of Kerala are the best wake up alarms possible). The driver had to resort to honking in the Kerala roads to get slow moving vehicles to move to enable overtaking as Kerala still lives in an era where National Highways are no wider than "lanes" in any other state. Reached TVM by 930 AM - overall a good experience with the operator and the bus. For some reason, heard excessive creaking noise from the suspension throughout the bad roads stretch - first time in a new B9R. AC was kept at a pleasant 22 degrees and no disturbance apart from one movie till ~1030 PM

Return: KPN Multi Axle at 7 PM from TVM (via Nagercoil)
Normal B9R with ~550k on the odo and decent / clean interiors. Bus was ready by 650 PM and we departed ~710 with 12 passengers on board. The bus had 2 drivers + 1 cleaner, all in uniform and polite. 4 pax got off at nagercoil to transfer to a different KPN service and 1-2 got in. We left Nagercoil ~930 PM with ~10 pax. Sedate driving and a noisy bad tamil movie was played till the dinner break at ~1030 PM. They also screened a KPN Corporate Video at the journey commencement with a welcome message, which is the first I am seeing with a private operator (apart from Olivea). A couple of short distance passengers were taken enroute (Tirunelveli / Salem) but we did not spend time anywhere soliciting passengers (despite the fact that we had only <30% occupancy - full marks to KPN for this), hence no time lost and no complaints. Reached Hosur by 620 AM and Silk Board at 7 AM. No issues, apart from slightly aggressive driving by the 2nd driver with excessive honking on the Krishnagiri - Blr stretch. Again, heard the loud creaking noise from the suspension. Is this a maintenance issue with the Volvos or is it some suspension tweaking to cater to the poor roads thats causing this noise?

On the whole, good experiences on both legs, and a welcome change from the terrible SRS experience and mixed KaSRTC experience I had on earlier trips to Kerala.

[TKMCE]

Aroon

Dont count too much on KPN operating with light loads always, esp ex BLR. They do cancel/combine their services sometimes at the very last minute!!!

Off peak days, KaSRTC is the best bet amd their TRV Airvath is generally on time at Ernakulam (9 PM Vytilla)

[ThePunter]

Did a Chn- Palakkad on 8th Nov and then back on 12th Nov

Down: Got Tippusulthan from Perungalathur. Bus came at 930 instead of 8:45 scheduled and with one quick tyre replacement for a puncture reached fine till Walayar. It was Fri morning and still for no reason got stuck for about 1 and quarter hour. Many other buses too- as they passed us when we were stopped for repairing that punctured one. For a non ac and its reduced price tag still I feel its a good pick at occasions like this, when I couldn't get a volvo ticket (i wanted a direct one to Perinthalmanna) thru redbus

Up: got in at Perinthalmanna into Kallada volvo. Its always a pain to get the current trips driver/ cleaner num- had to make atleast 2 to 3 calls for this in the last 3 occasions ! Bus was late by almost 45min- driver told about a jam due to accident some 10km back. Hardly there were 4-5 passengers. Better half was sadly occupied with vomiting (as usual) in these winding stretches till palakkad. Again just 2-3 onboarded. Same at coimbatore too. Thus the bus was just about 30-40% occupied- seems this route has less occupancy except may be for weekends, recently travels india ( ktc?) too has started one in this route. Any idea how are their occupancy rates? No movies shown. seems p,ayer or disc had some issue and was throwing an error. The driver and drive was good, and fast. Sat beside him for a chat for some 20 min. Bus was about 2L km run. Started almost 11pm from cbe - it took the NH 209 instead of the usual avinashi road. and still was dropped at Perungalathur at 5:15.
Fares are rising, so much that if I start take tickets for kids too, as they grow up, then it is cheaper (and more exciting less tiring) to go in my Petrol Punto itself for unplanned trips like this

[ecenandu]

Hello guys a little OT, I have noticed that the Multi axle Volvo's, driver side doors are sealed. Is it an option left to the operators to choose or any other particular reason?

[coriollis]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Hello guys a little OT, I have noticed that the Multi axle Volvo's, driver side doors are sealed. Is it an option left to the operators to choose or any other particular reason?

I feel that this is a cost cutting practice. Volvo might be offering an option on the door style.Interestingly I have seen this only on some of the private operators and never on State transport corporations.
IMO this is a dangerous practice and compromises on driver safety.
Do insurance companies increase their premium with respect to such issues?

Cheers,
Abhijeet.

[swiftdiesel]

Guys, I just checked the KPN web site to book a ticket and it says "login session expired." Do I need to register myself before booking on their web site? Thanks!

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Guys, I just checked the KPN web site to book a ticket and it says "login session expired." Do I need to register myself before booking on their web site? Thanks!

Yes you need a login to make a booking. I believe that's standard everywhere (KaSRTC/TNSTC/IRCTC) and so on. Except ABT (i don't know about other operators), rest of the ones which I had used require logins.

[swiftdiesel]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Yes you need a login to make a booking. I believe that's standard everywhere (KaSRTC/TNSTC/IRCTC) and so on. Except ABT (i don't know about other operators), rest of the ones which I had used require logins.

Thanks AlphaKilo! I wish their site was more user friendly. Other omni bus web sites (like Parveen) allow you to check the routes, type of bus and seat numbers without any registration. It's just that if I don't decide to book on their bus I wouldn't want my personal data lying around in their database.

Anyway, another good reason to walk away from KPN, even before boarding one!

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Thanks AlphaKilo! I wish their site was more user friendly. Other omni bus web sites (like Parveen) allow you to check the routes, type of bus and seat numbers without any registration. It's just that if I don't decide to book on their bus I wouldn't want my personal data lying around in their database.

Anyway, another good reason to walk away from KPN, even before boarding one!

Most of KPN's services are usually listed on redbus - so you should be able to get the info from redbus.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Most of KPN's services are usually listed on redbus - so you should be able to get the info from redbus.

There is a difference of Rs.40/- between these two websites with redbus being higher.