Update 3: Bangalore-Mumbai
I was sure that i would be taking the Scania back home. It's not going to be any other bus! Started searching about the Scania services between Bangalore-Mumbai and i narrowed down to SRS.
SRS Online Booking Experience
SRS offers plenty of services between Bangalore-Mumbai. They have a range of sleeper and semi-sleeper options comprising Volvos and Scanias. Book a seat online and you get a flat Rs. 50/- discount. The best part about their online booking system- you can use your paytm or mobikwik wallet to make the payment. No need of any printout of the ticket and you can simply show the SMS confirmation that you receive. In my case, the SRS representative simply asked me for my name and checked the seat number. Thats it!
Boarding at Anand Rao Circle
I took a local BMTC AC Volvo from Hosa Road bus station to Majestic Bus Depot (Fare Rs.80/-) and reached well before the departure time. It's a 10 minute walk from Majestic to Anand Rao Cirlce. You first reach the VRL Bus depot and then a short walk ahead leads you to the SRS Bus Depot. All these private players are fairly competitive in terms of fares as well as services. However, majority of the people seemed to prefer SRS at that time and the VRL Depot was relatively empty. My scheduled departure time was 10.55Hrs from Anand Rao Circle. The bus arrived around 10.50Hrs and we departed around 11.10Hrs.
The mighty Scania getting aligned. You can faintly see the tag axle helping the bus to park The Interior
Climb into the bus and you feel you have entered a B787! The blue and white lights brighten the cabin with a sense of luxury. The blue seat covers look and feel good and do not look 'cheap'. The seat cushioning is decent and you can get into a comfortable seating position with the help of the recline. The calf support under the seats was really of no use to me and i found it better to keep my legs straight ahead.
Interior Ambience Digital Clock and TV Screen below Blaupunkt Speakers Essential Safety Equipment The last row 'odd man out' seat The Journey
The bus did not waste much time at the stoppage points and we could start quickly with the journey. The late night bus timings must have also helped in avoiding the peak hour traffic. We reach the last pickup point (8th Mile bus stop) and we are woken up by a loud 'thud'. Majority of the people wonder what happened and sensing that its not a major issue, they go off to sleep again. After collecting all the people from the bus stop, the bus driver and cleaner got down to examine the bus, discussed something for a while and then continued with the journey. The next morning i try to find out about the problem.
The bus was in the right hand side lane, close to the divider and then the driver suddenly decided to take a sharp left turn to pick up the passengers on the left. The result: the tag axle moved the bus more than the driver expected and the bus brushed the divider.
We reached Belgaum around 6.30-7.00Hrs after a pleasant and comfortable night drive. The bus journey followed a two driver system and the second driver took the responsibility from Belgaum. Both the drivers seemed to be aged 50+ and drove well. No unnecessary honking or sudden maneuvers were made to inconvenience anyone.
The breakfast stoppage was 'okay' and had 'okay' toilets. Decent breakfast items were available and you could grab a variety of packed chikki for the travel. Majority of the private players have the same assigned stoppage points and you can see multiple buses taking a break over there. We were soon joined by people travelling with National, Sea bird etc
Breakfast stop at Maharaja Palace just before Kolhapur The bus looks to be sitting quite low Rear 3/4th view The Scania operated by National Travels 2 Volvos and 1 Scania in the parking lot. The greyish-golden Volvo is NL registered. Breakfast done.Time to roll!
After the breakfast halt of 20 mins and clear daylight everywhere, i was expecting a good view for the rest of the journey, from my first row seat. The front curtains were drawn for the complete night journey and i thought they will open it during the daytime. They still did not open the curtains and i grew restless. I asked the cleaner to open the curtains and he declined outright. I approached the driver and asked him to keep the curtains open. He instead asked me," Tumko kya dekhne ka hai bahar? Side wali khidki se dekho..Parde bandh rahenge". I was a little annoyed and shocked to see this behaviour from the staff. Perhaps they didn't want to reveal their cruising speed/top speed ? Also, no bottle of water was provided to the travellers. When i asked the cleaner for a bottle of water he said,"Pani nahi hai". However, the cleaner would 'stock' small cartons of water bottles from each stoppage point and keep it in the luggage compartment.
"ring the curtain down" throughout the journey
The drive was comfortable, as usual, from Kolhapur and the bus reached Kharghar around 15.00Hrs. Borivali was the last stoppage on the route and it reached Borivali around 16.30Hrs.
The Scania Experience
The Scania's engine starts with a relatively lesser crank than the Volvo, that i experienced recently. The cabin is also quieter compared to the Volvo and you can barely hear the engine 'idle' in the Scania. The overall view from both the buses is great and it gives you a royal treatment. The Scania will whiz past other vehicles making the other vehicles seem pretty 'insignificant' on the road. The suspension however, IMHO, is stiffer compared to the Volvo. You can 'feel' every change in the road tarmac from the 'slighty bumpy' concrete roads to the 'smooth' tar roads. I sat in the last row for an hour and i could feel the same back there too. Its was a wee more bouncy, to my comfort level. I got the chance to talk to the driver for a few minutes, just before my stop approached. This driver had completed 33 years of service and is due to retire next month. He said that this particular Scania is just about 6 months old (which might also explain the harsher ride, maybe?). The bus completed its 60k KM run on this trip. I also managed to get a few 'sneak peeks' into the cabin after reaching Kharghar as the staff didn't bother about the curtains anymore.
The Scania in action. The MID displayed, Avg Speed: 62km/hr. Avg Fuel Consumption: 3.30km/lit. Also, a small sticker on the instrument panel read "top speed limited to 100km/hr"
The power to the wheels is distributed via an 8 Speed Auto Gearbox. The Scania always started in 2 gear from standstill and made a random pattern of 2-4-5-6-7-8 or 2-4-6-7-8 or 2-3-4-5-7-8 or some other combination. The vehicle never felt like it is being 'lugged' from standstill. All gear changes were smooth and decently fast.
The 'non-identical' twins!
Total Distance : Approx 980 KM
Total Time Taken : 17.5 Hrs
Total trip cost : Rs1,003/- (After 50 flat discount)
Till we meet again..