Travelling in 2 intercity electric buses: Nuego Mytrah vs KSRTC Olectra

Despite an 8 hr 30 mins ride, I arrived at my destination fresh. I loved the crew, their driving skills, demeanour, and the overall ride.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

This is a review of my journeys by two intercity electric buses:

• Manufactured by Mytrah Mobility operated by GreenCell Mobility under the name of Nuego and,
• Manufactured by Olectra Greentech and operated by EveyTrans under the KSRTC banner

What's in store ?

• Travel experiences including highlights and lowlights
• Other small yet significant details in both these buses
• Comparisons on travel | E-Buses vs IC engine buses

Why the urge to try an E-Bus and how I got the opportunity?

My travel across the country, especially South and West India, has gone up exponentially in the last two years or so - and I use all modes of transport in the process. On one trip, I found that Nuego was operating a service from Trichy to Bengaluru and hence decided to see what this E-Bus experience was all about. Just about then, I found fellow bhpian DigitalOne's review of Nuego and decided to try it out. @DigitalOne had forewarned of a possible long charging stop, but I decided to try the service out nevertheless. Opportunities to try alternate modes of travel should be explored without procrastinating. Who knows when one would get the next chance!

Booking Experience

Nuego's website is straightforward, but the fares aren't. They fluctuate wildly and it is left to one's smartness to book one's ticket and the right price point. The fares are weird:

• First row is, say, INR 450 (sitting ducks?)
• Rows 2,3,4 approx. INR 550
• Rows 5,6,7 approx. INR 520
• Rows 8,9,10 approx. INR 400

The lowest fare would remain steady till the departure of the bus but the others would go up or down wildly based on, say, the number of hits or the rate at which seats are being gobbled up. I found my seat being offered for a high of 620 and a low of 450, for a bus in which only approx 15 seats were booked.

GST Levy

I have travelled airconditioned buses aplenty and have always paid 5% GST, but Nuego is the only service where I've been charged 12%. Why?

D-Day and the ride

I reached the point of origin and found the bus without fuss. However, for first-timers, there is likely to be some confusion resulting in calls to the crew. Instead of vaguely mentioning the boarding point as near X Hotel, they should clearly mention it as opp. X hotel, outside the SETC Bus Stand etc. Anyways, on a hot afternoon, the bus was extremely cool even with the aircon off, and when the motor was started for the AC, there was barely any noise.

Departure was on time, and in a short while, we'd exited the city onto the road to Salem. Ride quality was brilliant, aircon was tops, and the ottoman seats made by Harita were quite impressive. The talking point about these seats is the overall leatherette finish and the steep recline angle.

Cockpit- the polycarbonate on the instrument cluster is already bearing the brunt of UV radiation

View of the road from inside

Seats

Seat Recline - am sure this superior recline angle with the ottoman would translate into a blissful sleeping experience during night journeys

A small bottle of water is given to every passenger - more available later if needed

Likes

• Superior Acceleration
• Almost silent ride except for some minor road noise
• Excellent Ride quality
• Powerful Airconditioning
• Crew demeanour - one used to work for another big bus operator and the other gentleman used to be a trucker

Dislikes

• Ultra-long charging stop
• Too many nuisance audio alarms - pedestrian warning, unsafe following distance, driver distraction, lane departure warning, collision warning rendering them equivalent to "Cry Wolf"

All went well till the rest stop

It was a fantastic journey till the rest-cum-charging stop. The ride to Salem was done in less than 3 hours, and we were in Aasai Aasai Ananda Bhavan Delight at Omalur bypass in about 3hrs 25mins. Fantastic ride this far, and we were then given the first shocker - stop for charging and meals would be 1 hour. Since I had a lot of time on hand, I went next door to this place which is a quaint eatery, had 2 dal vadas and a cup of black coffee, all for a mere 22 bucks, and waited for the charging to get over. The charging stop finally came to an end in 1hr 15mins which, in my view, is unacceptable time. There was some power outage which resulted in charging getting interrupted. If uninterrupted power supply cannot be assured, electric bus patronage would gradually slip away!

Safety at the charging stop

• Rubber mats placed at the charger
• Fire extinguishers available and visible
• Attendant was putting on a reflective jacket and was in safety shoes

DOs and DONTs board displayed, but nobody heeded them; I found folks gathered at the charging point when the charging was taking too long; this should be curtailed. I had the urge to go and check the charging station but stayed away as I'd be treated as a trespasser. Also, I'd opine that passengers should be off the bus during charging stops for safety reasons.

The refreshment-cum-charging point

Parked at the charging station with the twin charger plugged in

Charging station

Views of the coach

Excellent warm white lighting in the bus

This video was captured on the difficult uphill ride at the Thoppur ghat - this should give an idea of how effortlessly the bus pulled despite not being pushed too hard. Those nuisance warnings are also audible in the clip.

Despite an 8hr 30mins ride (including the long 1hr 15min rest cum charging stop and an approx 20min delay due to traffic congestion before the E-City toll), I arrived at my destination fresh, and the crew was considerate to drop passengers off on the left side of the road at Silk Board. Other buses would drop people off at the foot of the bridge and then they'd have to cross dangerously via incoming traffic onto the service road. I loved the crew, their driving skills, their demeanour, and the overall ride.

Continue reading vigsom's electric bus experience for BHPian comments, insights and more information.