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The model has already earned the name of being a "failure" among operators. Now Volvo has to do something really great to get the product back on track. Kesineni had placed the largest order for B11Rs - and they have reportedly backed off now due to the higher % of failure in the existing fleet of B11Rs.

I think a total of 50 might have been sold till date - the operators I know are:
1. Kallada - 4
2. Kesineni - 18
3. SRS - 3
4. Sharma - 2
5. SVR - 6 (or 8?)
6. Sahajanand - 2

There might be more - I am not sure.

Not just between Bangalore and Kerala, but all over the south and from much earlier as well. I think it had to do with the fact that these buses were run as "contract carriage" operations and the passengers were puchasing a a "tour" from the operator. The list of people undertaking the "tour" had to be provided to the authorities.

Happened to read a news article in The Hindu that mentioned a private bus being fined Rs.1,24,000 for driving above the speed limit between Cherthala and Mannuthy. The report also mentions that the bus was caught speeding at 150kmph in one of the speed-cams. Makes me wonder which bus and where it could be moving at that speed.

Volvos and Mercs max out at 120kmph, AFAIK. Does it mean the speed cams have an error of 30kmph?

Made a trip by the SRM Chennai - Tirunelveli Ishift Multi Day service from Chennai to Madurai on Monday (19th August). Left Perungalathur at 10:30 AM to reach Madurai at 4:30 PM with a 20 minute lunch break. Sedate driving with a max speed attained of 110 kmph no hard breaking, only issue was regular use of horn which was understandable since it was day time.

The bus did not go inside Trichy and had about 15 passengers to Madurai & beyond which was good for a Monday morning service.

Very recommended.

Strangely most of the buses were full for the return from Madurai the same night. Finally managed to get a ticket in the 9 PM A/c sleeper of KPN. Left Periyar Bus stand at 9:15 PM and got dropped at Pallavaram at 5:15 AM with their regular break at Ulundurpet. Was driven by a single driver with no harsh braking. The engine noise was quite high, being in one of the front berths it was a disturbing factor for sleep.

I am planning a trip to Coimbatore from Chennai. Please suggest which operator would be best in terms of safe driving and punctuality.

I would prefer to experience the multi-axle buses :)

I searched through this thread, and am not able to decide...though ABT-X and SRM seem likely choices.

Thanks !

It can be a volvo multi. I once observed an SVR Shirdi-HYD service(I was travelling in it) touch 140 in my phone GPS. I guess it is only the speedo and not the bus that is limited.

ABT-X doesn't operate multi-axle buses on that route, while the ones operated by SRM are quite old and ill-maintained. In fact, on that route, the only fairly good operators are Parveen and KPN. Both offer day and night services with Volvo multi-axles.

KPN has a Volvo multi sleeper while NJK has a Merc Multi Sleeper in this route. Both these buses are less than a year old.

Both KPN and Parveen have fairly new semi sleeper buses. Go for the "Go Green" multi from Parveen which is a newer vehicle while KPN semi sleeper is also not very old. You could choose one of these 4 options.

SRM runs Old multi in this route, when I last saw a couple of months back. I doubt if it has been changed now.

Edit: I was just seeing Redbus. For a weekday Hindustan travels is showing Rs.400/- for Volvo multi axle and Rs.430/- for a AC sleeper. If it is true it is seriously cheap, Non A/c KPN rates are Rs.650/-

Thanks for the info, guys :thumbs up

Done the booking on Parveen...onward in a Volvo multi....and return in an MB multi :D.

Will update once the trip is done....really looking forward to it....will be an inter-city bus journey for me after a long time now. Really excited !!!

PS : ~ Rs 1,400/- for CHN-CBE-CHN.

Just read that a Bangalore-Trivandrum bus met with an accident near Tiruppur today early morning, killing 3 including driver.
Link to the news here: http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...?homepage=true

This link in Malayalam: http://www.manoramanews.com/cgi-bin/...RIAL&BV_ID=@@@

Any idea which operator it was? The bus was said to be travelling at high speed when it lost control, as per reports. Perhaps running late and over-speeding to make up time?

^^ Report says it happened at 1.30 AM. Possibility of the driver dozing off momentarily can't be ruled out.

Some newspapers are reporting the operator is Kallada. See the link.

http://www.mangalam.com/latest-news/88389

Below link has the photo of the bus and it looks like Kallada .

http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bi...DITORIAL&BV_ID=@@@

May their souls rest in peace !

Very sad news, in the rear engine busses, its the passengers in the first few rows who take the brunt, and more often than not, the youngsters in the first row are auto enthusiasts like us

There is a serious flaw in rear engine bus design, its best suited to expressway use since in the event of a head on collision there is no crumple zone, and the passengers are the crumple zone. The damage is actually less since the building was not moving! if it was another vehicle coming at it, then the damage would have been much more

The bus is a kallada G4 which was involved in the accident at Tirupur