[LPT2625]

Originally Posted by gold class

KPN NEW ROUTE LAUNCH-Multi Axle Volvo
Marthandam-Hyderabad
Pondichery-Hyderabad
Coimbatore-Bangalore 07:30 AM

How can they expect a decent patronage if their service goes only up to Marthandam? Why can't they extend the service to Trivandrum? Even ARC Travels has a Chennai - Trivandrum service which is mentioned as 'Chennai - Marthandam (Trivandrum)'. What is the catch here?

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I remember the TTC buses. THeir longest routes at that time were Chennai Kollur via Bangalore, Mangalore, Chennai Hyderabad (1 service) and Chennai Trivandrum which they had many a day.

They had another Ernakulam-Chennai 36 seat pushback service leaving Ernakulam at 3.30pm. My first `bus' travel to Chennai was in this bus and the fare was about Rs. 70 in 1992. This bus too had two drivers, one an old person driving at slow speeds and other young guy driving at very high speeds.

[venki.bala]

Travelled from Chennai to Hyderabad in Kesineni travels VL 173 service yesterday. The bus scheduled departure time was 7.50 pm at Koyambedu. The bus came came about 7.45 and left about 8.10 pm. Thought will reach Hyderabad LB nagar by 6.30 am. To my surprise reached LB nagar at 5 am and dropped in KPHB at 5.50 am. Amazing. The drive was very smooth except for the stretch between Chilakuripet and macherla. The drivers never slammed the brakes hard. Maintained 100 - 110 consistently.

[coolclouds]

Two rally drivers and a KeSRTC bus!!

Drove to Kochi last Saturday for a one week holiday but had to come back to Bangalore for two days emergency work. All regular services were running full and finally got a ticket on KeSRTC Kottayam-Bangalore super express bus. Boarded the bus from Muvattupuzha as it was the last boarding point in their website.

The bus was RNC 676 (Tata) of Pala depot (KL15 9151) departed at 5.45 pm from Muvattupuzha bus stand. It was literally flying through crowded MC road evening traffic to reach Angamaly at 6.30 and Trichur toll at 7.01 pm. Trichur - Palghat toad was too crowded and reached Palakkad BS at 9.05 with a 35 mins dinner break at Alathur.

Started from Palakkad BS after diesel halt at 9.10pm just to see that it reached Silkboard at 3.20am that too with two bio breaks.

There were two drivers and the first guy drove till Palakkad and then from Krishnagiri. I couldn't sleep for a moment in the bus (thank God, i reached home at 3.30am and slept nicely till 8!) and it was driven extremely RASH.

This is the earliest arrival in Bangalore from Kerala during my last 20 years travel and probably wish to avoid if there any other option.

[gold class]

NEETA to operate to Pala, Mundakyam in tie up with Sai sree -bglr and Travel centre -kerala. They willl start off wit a 12 mt A/C coach to mundakayam from this friday. Dep time mdw is 7 pm. Buses are brand new one built by sutlej and are SS seats.Saisree is looking after Neetas operations in bglr and Travel Centre is in charge of shama in kerala.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by gold class

NEETA to operate to Pala, Mundakyam in tie up with Sai sree -bglr and Travel centre -kerala. They willl start off wit a 12 mt A/C coach to mundakayam from this friday. Dep time mdw is 7 pm. Buses are brand new one built by sutlej and are SS seats.Saisree is looking after Neetas operations in bglr and Travel Centre is in charge of shama in kerala.

Wasn't Shama operating on this route long long back? IIRC that service was cancelled due to poor ridership. So would this be a regular 12M bus (AshLey/TATA) with SS seats? Given the kind of passengers, I am not sure anything less than a Volvo would survive. Purely personal thoughts.

Wonder when their B9R would start coming in - the Kerala market is getting saturated though.

[ramzsys]

As i am typing this, i am on a KPN non-AC, semi-sleeper bus from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The driver took a left turn from after Salem tollways booth, and he is solving a dispute between his wife and his mother, for about fifteen minutes. I guess it is better to hop on to Government buses these days!

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

As i am typing this, i am on a KPN non-AC, semi-sleeper bus from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The driver took a left turn from after Salem tollways booth, and he is solving a dispute between his wife and his mother, for about fifteen minutes. I guess it is better to hop on to Government buses these days!

Did he stopped at half way to settle the dispute or over phone?

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Did he stopped at half way to settle the dispute or over phone?

His home is at Sankagiri i think, thats why he took a diversion from NH47 and stopped for about twenty minutes, before he rejoined the NH.

[speedsatya]

Yet another trip to Mangalore and back in the Durgamba B9R .It was extremely well driven .Dunno if its the bus or the drivers ,but the gear shifting was without any jerks that was easily noticeable on B7Rs that I had taken earlier .

Bangalore to Mangalore was in around 5 and half hours while the return journey took around 6 hours .

Goodbye KSRTC.If you take KSRTC ,other than the badly maintained and vibrating buses ,one also had to spoil the early morning trying to haggle with greedy rickshaw drivers .Private operators have pick up and drop throughout the city

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by LPT2625

How can they expect a decent patronage if their service goes only up to Marthandam? Why can't they extend the service to Trivandrum? Even ARC Travels has a Chennai - Trivandrum service which is mentioned as 'Chennai - Marthandam (Trivandrum)'. What is the catch here?

I guess you missed that it goes to Hyderabad and not to Chennai. This route is serviced by Rathimeena ( TVM-Marthandam-NGL-Chennai) which I believe is some sort of partner service because they don't service the same routes.. This Marthandam-Hyderabad probably is an extension of their Madurai-Hyderabad service. It's quite a long one already..

[shalini_g]

Had a horrible journey in Kallada's 9.50 EKM -BLR multi this friday. Had to go to EKM for an urgent matter and was planning to come back on Friday. Booked their 9.50 (from Edappally) bus. By 8PM , one person called up and said the bus will be delayed by 1 hr and will reach Edappally by only 11.15PM and the reason is some technical issues. Around 10AM got another call asking me be at Edapplay toll gate by 10.45 PM. Reached there by 10.30 and finally the bus came at 11.30 PM which is already delayed by 1hr and 30 min. Bus was almost full and only last 2 rows were empty. The inside temp was at 21c and it was like inside a freezer. Reached Valayar by 2.10 AM and came to know that one of the passenger is traveling with luggage with out proper bills. He was not willing to pay the required bills and this made us to wait more than 2 hrs. This is the bus which leaves BLR morning at 9AM and was delayed at valayar when coming to EKM.Finally bus left valayar at 4.30AM just because of a highly irresponsible passenger. We reached EC by 11AM and was finally at home around 11.30. Came to know from the cleaner of the bus that it is 3 yr old and done more than 6L KMs. Kallada is getting some additional buses and their total fleet is now around 70 which I am not sure.

[aroonanand]

Posting my review of the travel on Seabird Volvo from Bangalore to Chennai on 19 Jan 12

Booked online and got very cheap rates - 2 tickets for Rs. 740 on a Semi Sleeper volvo... Scheduled Departure from Madiwala @ 1130 PM; bus came around 1130 and left by 1145 PM.

Good part: Bus was well driven without any sudden braking / unnecessary honking and AC was maintained at decent temperature (neither freezing nor too warm).. Blankets were provided.... Leg room was decent, much better than Airavat KSRTC Volvos... Reached Poonamallee at scheduled time of 430 AM and was dropped off at Central by 505 AM....

Not so good parts: Bus was an ageing B7R with seats badly needing some refurbishment (storage compartments behind the seats to store water / books were broken in almost all the seats)... No water bottle provided...

[gold class]

Kesineni Accident.
Have any one got any updates about the CBE-HYD B9R accident happened on 21st Jan near Madanepelle.Herad that 2 crew members along with 4 Pax have died on spot. Any updates ?

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by gold class

Kesineni Accident.
Have any one got any updates about the CBE-HYD B9R accident happened on 21st Jan near Madanepelle.Herad that 2 crew members along with 4 Pax have died on spot. Any updates ?

I didn't see anything in the newspapers or news. can anyone confirm? I have a friend who travels every weekend to Coimbatore. Trying to reach him and see if he saw anything. This is not the first time that this route kesineni has met with accident. Maybe they need to give proper rest to the drivers in this route.