[ampere]

Then its very good. I remember express buses never used enter small towns. So I hope the same thing continues with Volvo on the GQ and on the NH with by-passes.

[lakshmig_cbe]

Recently KPN launched the trial run of the first intercity bus with Automatic transmission, The bus plies between Chennai and Coimbatore. The success of Automatic tranmission in city bus is moving to intercity buses now...

[para_7k]

Going by the amount of positive feedback on ABT travels, I did a trip with them from Chennai - Hosur and back.

Overall, I was disappointed as I went with a lot of expectations.

Positives:

• Performance - Nice turbo whine and the bus was able to keep up with Volvos.
• Ride Quality - Good and On-par with the Volvo B7R
• Lounge - A/C Waiting room and facilities in the Guindy office is good.
• Dropping Points - Reaches Koyambedu first and drops at Guindy bus stand.

Negatives:

Bus Quality:

• Rattles were there all over. A small undulation and the bus becomes a rattle box.
• The Panel that holds the A/C blower, reading lamps had given away on one end and water was dripping intermittently.
• I was not able to turn off one of the A/C blower.
• No calf support
• The rubber on the foot rest of my seat had given way exposing sharp ends of steel.

Driver Attitudes:

• In the Chennai - Bangalore route, we asked to drop us off at Hosur and the driver was rude enough to ask us why we hadn't informed earlier. We did inform some one who came to verify the tickets.
• There is no attendant in the Coach which only adds to the driver Frustration.
• On the way back, the driver had music on with high volume which was disturbing our sleep. We requested him to turn down the volume twice but he turned a deaf ear.
• He showed all his frustration to passengers who requested for Intermediate stops.

Others:

• Poor Value for Money - I pay 599 for Chennai to Hosur and get to travel in an abused bus where as Kesineni offers me a seat in Volvo B9R for 610.
• The kit that contains a paper napkin and others was given only one way. We were not given that on the way back from Hosur to Chennai.
• There were two counters in the Guindy office that issues boarding passes but one of the staff went missing so there was a mix up in issuing passes.

Overall, I'm terribly dissatisifed with the experience, especially that I was not able to sleep the whole last night.

Personally, I will not choose this again and will stick to Parveen or Kesineni

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

ABT.

I did Madurai to salem on an Bangalore bus paying full fare.
At 2.30 am before getting off the driver insisted that i go back to my seat and bring and return the blanket to him!!

cheers

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by para_7k

Going by the amount of positive feedback on ABT travels, I did a trip with them from Chennai - Hosur and back.

Overall, I was disappointed as I went with a lot of expectations.


Others:

• Poor Value for Money - I pay 599 for Chennai to Hosur and get to travel in an abused bus where as Kesineni offers me a seat in Volvo B9R for 610.
• The kit that contains a paper napkin and others was given only one way. We were not given that on the way back from Hosur to Chennai.
• There were two counters in the Guindy office that issues boarding passes but one of the staff went missing so there was a mix up in issuing passes.

Overall, I'm terribly dissatisifed with the experience, especially that I was not able to sleep the whole last night.

Personally, I will not choose this again and will stick to Parveen or Kesineni

This could be a one-off thing, normally it is much better than KPN. During one of my trips on an ABT, I had a problem with water dripping through the air vent at the roof when it rained. But that was the only time I had a bad experience with them.
For Chennai-Bangalore, I took the SRS Travels for my last trip couple of weeks back. Much more comfortable and cost-effective than ABT/KPN. Definitely worth giving a try. Best thing is they started on time despite the huge traffic mess that Koyambedu was in at that time. I was expecting them to start at least 30 mins late, but they started promptly giving me a pleasant surprise.

Originally Posted by PRADEEP KUMAR

ABT.

I did Madurai to salem on an Bangalore bus paying full fare.
At 2.30 am before getting off the driver insisted that i go back to my seat and bring and return the blanket to him!!

cheers

In their defense, they do have it written clearly on the door saying that you have to return the blanket when you get down. I don't know why they insist on it, but they implement it quite strictly.

[para_7k]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

This could be a one-off thing, normally it is much better than KPN. During one of my trips on an ABT, I had a problem with water dripping through the air vent at the roof when it rained. But that was the only time I had a bad experience with them.
For Chennai-Bangalore, I took the SRS Travels for my last trip couple of weeks back. Much more comfortable and cost-effective than ABT/KPN. Definitely worth giving a try. Best thing is they started on time despite the huge traffic mess that Koyambedu was in at that time. I was expecting them to start at least 30 mins late, but they started promptly giving me a pleasant surprise.



In their defense, they do have it written clearly on the door saying that you have to return the blanket when you get down. I don't know why they insist on it, but they implement it quite strictly.

From the points that you can see, it does not look like a one off Issue.

Thanks.I will try the SRS bus next time. My only problem is Koyambedu is far off from my place.

The driver insisted us to return too. He mentioned that some one else might take it home

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

For Chennai-Bangalore, I took the SRS Travels for my last trip couple of weeks back. Much more comfortable and cost-effective than ABT/KPN. Definitely worth giving a try. Best thing is they started on time despite the huge traffic mess that Koyambedu was in at that time.

I also traveled in SRS Coimbatore - Bangalore sleeper bus. The bus was new and clean and staff were very good. They started from Omni bus stand on time and had a pleasant trip. Worth trying.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

had the misfortune of travelling bangalore -tvm on an atlas/sharma travels bus. The AC had been off and we were being grilled inside until after we crossed the border. Would rather stick to the regular ones.

Is this the same Sharma travels of before ?

Sharma Transports woes continued.

my sister booked a blore chennai trip on a volvo double axle Semi Sleeper, (they were the last one remaining)

I dropped her off yesterday night , and she calls me up at 3 worried that she might be having a food allergy attack. After a bit of talking, it turns out only the areas in her skin that were in contact with the seats/curtain are swollen and itching.

She decided to dump their sheets and move away the curtains, and later found insects in between and underneath the seats. She had a pretty bad experience.

I'm not sure why others don't seem to be having any issues with them

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I've been on the Pune-B'lore and B'lore-Chennai routes of the GQ. The Volvos don't get into any towns on these routes, IIRC.

Their designated stops are only those which fall en route.

Eg. For the B'lore-Mumbai service, none of the buses enter Pune city. They drop off the Pune passengers at the Katraj bypass.

For pickups, there are no designated stops i.e. for e.g. I have traveled on VRL/Sharma Volvo and multiple times the bus has entered Tumkur for pickup ( if there is one) and most of the buses have entered Pune for dropping folks.

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Sharma Transports woes continued.

my sister booked a blore chennai trip on a volvo double axle Semi Sleeper, (they were the last one remaining)

I dropped her off yesterday night , and she calls me up at 3 worried that she might be having a food allergy attack. After a bit of talking, it turns out only the areas in her skin that were in contact with the seats/curtain are swollen and itching.

She decided to dump their sheets and move away the curtains, and later found insects in between and underneath the seats. She had a pretty bad experience.

I'm not sure why others don't seem to be having any issues with them

This seems to be the classic case of bedbug bites. I had the same experience on a VRL MUM-Bangalore volvo trip a couple of years back. Was lucky that there was a vacant seat at the back and that was bedbug free. The best (or you can say worst) part is that they dont bite during the day, but come night boy-o-boy they have a field trip.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by f1fan

For pickups, there are no designated stops i.e. for e.g. I have traveled on VRL/Sharma Volvo and multiple times the bus has entered Tumkur for pickup ( if there is one) and most of the buses have entered Pune for dropping folks.

This doesn't happen with KSRTC; at least on the GQ route.

Not once did the Airavats I've travelled in get into towns, either Pune-B'lore or B'lore-Chennai.

However, on other routes like Pune-Mangalore (Kundapura, Udupi, Manipal etc), Mangalore-B'lore (Madikeri, Mysore etc), the buses get into towns.

Not on the GQ.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Sharma Transports woes continued.
I'm not sure why others don't seem to be having any issues with them

I traveled in their multi axle to Hyderabad from Bangalore on 20th May but didn't face any such issues. Maybe it depends on the routes and the buses allocated to such routes?

[lakshmig_cbe]

After travelling with most of the private operators, now i started feeling comfortable with KSRTC. Atleast for Chennai -Bangalore route the frequency of KSRTC buses are very good. On private operators, you can try Conti travels which is very good at keeping up timing. Pl never take any chance with Sangita travels for any route.

[gururaj r]

During my last trip in KSRTC Mum to Bangalore trip, the bus went into Pune,(did not take the flyover but went underneath and roundabout, took 6 passengers, reserved. these seats came vacant from Mumbai) Davengere (no passengers did alight), Tumkur (again no passengers got down) and took all of 22 hours to reach majestic. On my return journey also same thing happened.

[silversteed]

I had to visit home. Checked availability online, and rang up a few operators on thursday. No luck with comfortable timings for friday and sunday. Found out one empty seat in a KSRTC (Kerala) Super Deluxe Airbus service to Kottarakkara. Booked pronto.


Ticket fare Rs.354. There's no fare stage at Palakkad for this bus, so I had to book a ticket to Thrissur. Friday evening. I hopped in at 18:30hrs (the bus was late by over 45min) from Madiwala St. Johns Hospital Junction. Passed Electronics City at 19:15hrs. Stopped for dinner at a place before Salem


Journey was comfortable. Harita push-back seats, with lot of leg room, nice cushioning, comfortable backrest. Reading lamp (common for both the passengers on one side). It was a 2x2 configuration, with 38 seats. Ashok Leyland Viking with a 114bhp engine and a 5-speed transmission. Fleet number RRC975. There were two drivers, both of them were very good, law abiding, safe yet fast drivers. The first one drove till Salem, and then other one took over. From Palakkad the first one got back in the driver seat. Reached home at 03:30hrs on Sat morning.

For the return trip, I found just one service with seats available - A KSRTC SDLX Airbus from Thrissur via Sultan Bathery, Gundlupet, Mysore. Left with no other option, I booked that one. Fare was Rs.404. The only grouse that I found was that I'll have to travel to Thrissur to board the bus, since it won't touch Palakkad. Yeah, a longer route, but I thought it should be okay. According to the website, the timings said the bus would reach Mysore at 02:05hrs, and Bangalore Satellite bus station at 05:20hrs. Little did I think about the practicality of that claim.


Sunday evening 20:00hrs, I reached Palakkad depot. The next bus to Thrissur was a Super Express that goes to Kottayam, at 20:20hrs. Good enough. I have factored the delay that may be caused by a traffic holdup in the Kuthiran ghat section. As I stood there waiting, watching other buses come and go, up came the Super Express Air Bus - RNC720 - A Tata 1512c with rear air suspension and driver operated door. Typical KSRTC Green and white livery, seats were done by KSRTC's Central Workshop, with nice cushioning but no push-back. Leg space was ok. Recline angle was perfect for me. The engine was very noisy, and needed to be revved to extract power (turbolag?). Gearing seemed ok. The bus was pulling well on the plains. Ride was harsh compared to the SDLX. The undulations on the tarmac was easily transmitted to the body. Ticket fare, Rs.46


Reached Thrissur depot at 22:20hrs. Two hours in that rains and not-so-thin traffic at night is ok. Come 22:35hrs, and my ride was brought to the platform. It was RRC961 or Thrissur depot. This bus looked a lot battered, from the outside, compared to the RRC973 and RRC974 of Palakkad depot which were impeccably maintained both inside and outside. Battered meant, lot of scratches, dents on the bumper, edges of body panels, etc. All lights were functional though. Got in, and was a bit surprised to see that the interiors were very neat and well maintained unlike the exterior. Comfortable seats, same engine as the SDLX which took me home, it was also an AL Viking with rear Air suspension.


The bus started on the dot at 23:00hrs. It was doing good speeds, and the GPS in my phone showed ~80kmph constantly. I thought, at this rate I would reach Bangalore before the scheduled time of arrival, and I would end up waiting for a bus to take me to Majestic and then to Madiwala; having no clue about what was in store.


Sometime after the bus passed Sulthan Bathery, i remember waking up when the bus came to a halt at a checkpost. It must've been somewhere around 02:00hrs. It didn't strike me, nor anyone at home that the road through the wildlife reserve is closed till morning. So, there I was, stuck, till 06:00hrs. Finally reached Mysore at 08:00hrs. The bus started immediately after dropping the passengers. Stopped at a hotel for breakfast at around 08:45hrs, and resumed journey at 09:00hrs. The monday morning traffic was getting thicker and thicker, and the frequent speed breakers on Mysore road prevented the bus from picking up good speeds.


Reached the Satellite Bus Station on Mysore road at 11:20hrs. A BMTC mini-bus took me to Majestic at 11:50hrs. A BMTC Volvo took me to Madiwala, by 13:00hrs. End of the journey. Half a day wasted.I made the mistake of booking that bus from Thrissur, else I would've happily reached Bangalore on time. Next time, this route will surely be given a miss.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by lakshmig_cbe

Pl never take any chance with Sangita travels for any route.

Sangita travels' tickets cost you a bomb, and they have a bus at all odd hours. BUT, there's no guarantee that you'll reach your destination on time, or that particular service would be available on the day of travel.

For Chennai-Bangalore sector, the most reliable and economical ones, IMO are Roadlink India and ABTX Travels - always on time and impeccably maintained buses.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by lakshmig_cbe

Recently KPN launched the trial run of the first intercity bus with Automatic transmission, The bus plies between Chennai and Coimbatore. The success of Automatic tranmission in city bus is moving to intercity buses now...

But what does this convey to passenger. Reduced Jerk? Improved Ride comfort?
Overall this may only increase the running cost of the vehicle!