It was a telephonic conversation between myself and Mr. Gopalakrishnan (Vigilance Offiver, KSRTC) today. I would like to share few things from that conversation to our readers.
Q: Sir, We Bangalore Malayalees are waiting for KSRTC to start new Volvo services to different parts of Kerala. Also it will be good if you can replace the AC buses with the new Volvo buses.
A: Yes, we are planning to buy 8 new volvo buses for long distance inter state travels, especially to Bangalore. It can happen at any time. At present Volvo is running fully packed on its journey to Bangalore, but we are not getting much passengers for the return trip (Except Weekends). As a plan to giving more comfort and better options to passengers we have started new pickup points in different parts of Bangalore.
Q: Thanks for introducing the new pickup points in Bangalore. May i know the details about that?
A: Sure, We have started 5 New pickup points in Bangalore. Those are
For Buses Towards Salem
1) Bommanahalli Bus Stop
2) Electronic City Opposite Infosys
3) Madiwala (ST Johns Hospital)
For Buses Towards Mysore
1) Kengeri (Opposite Police Station)
2) Mandya (Opposite Bus Stand)
Also we have given a pickup point from Mysore, but at present the passenger who is boarding from Mysore have to pay the ticket fare from Bangalore. This scene will change shortly.
Q: Sir, All our super deluxe air buses are in very pathetic condition. Especially the buses which is running to Bangalore, What is your opinion about that?
A: Yeah, It is the time to updating the CF of all the deluxe buses, so as quick as possible we will be sending the buses to our workshops for re-painting and re-conditioning jobs. You can expect all the buses will be in a good condition within a month.
Q: Sir, At present we have more than 10 permits to Bangalore, which are not in use. Also we have cancelled the Pala Bangalore Service too. Do you have any plans to start any new service to Bangalore from Kollam, Kayamkulam, Alleppey or anywhere in Kerala?
A: Yes sujith, At present there are few 12m Express Air Buses are under construction. We are planning to start some services to Bangalore with that buses. But the closure of the roads to Kerala via Gundalpet and Gudallur is making a big problem for us, Also we have tried our level best to get some special permit from Tamil Nadu, but unfortunately we didn't get a good response from them. Let us see what will happen.
HI Sujith
ReplyDeleteThis is a good news if they can start atleast before onam rush it will be great. Any idea when they will reintroduce the pala bus.
regards
Anup
Will the authorities open eyes to start One Premium service from CHENGANNUR to Bangloor so that thousands of people who run for Private Cut throaters & Train can get a relief?Even before 2 months Train reservation quota from CGNR to BNGLR exhausts...
ReplyDeleteGreat news.Hope they introduce all those 30 buses.
ReplyDeleteAt least 8 before Onam!!!!!!
Hi anup, Pala bus will start as soon as the express buses which comes.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous? Why the people in Chengannur need a bus to Bangalore, As there is a Bus from Thiruvalla to bangalore, people who are staying just 8 kms from Thiruvalla can make use of this bus. If the seats are not available in Thiruvalla bus continously, we can think about starting a bus to Chengannur.
Its happy to hear about new Volvo Services.
ReplyDeleteI have few suggestion to make it better.
We would like to have good seats in these volvo services with leg rest and enough leg room.
Blanket.
Good Entertrainment system with LCD TV.
Dinner Break @ Good Restaurant.
The restaurants where KSRTC is stopping (even private players) is not at all good. High price but bad food & service.
Exception is Sofiya Lines who stops at a good restaurant. Atleast Volvo services can opt these restaurant.
Before every departure, all the interstate Buses must be checked and tested ok by the Depot Service Engineer.
All the buses should equip with tools and some spares like fuse etc..
(On my last trip in our Volvo we lost around 2 hrs due to AC outage, There was not even a spare fuse to replace...atalst a driver from KPN given a wire to shot the fuse :)
But intresting thing is KSRTC Volvo overtook all other buses although we lost two hours @ the dinner point. :)
KSRTC may choose Leyland AC buses for low cost services. (Like TNSTC / Yatra / ABT/ KSRTC Mayura) These buses are much better than existing TATA GLOBUS in durability and comfort.
ISSUZU, TATA HISPANO, MERCIDES etc also can be considered
I would like to get readers choice in Private players:
I prefer Sofiya Lines. (
Nice Bus, Multi-Axle with full options like Seat Belt for every passengers etc.
Stops @ good restaurant with free food coupon worth 50rs
Free water bottle.
Time. starts @ 7 from Kollam and reaches here by 5.30 (Approx)
Friendly crews.
All the multi-Axle players charge the same as Sofiya Line bt not even providing water bottle.
If its KPN you may have to be so patient for their parcel movements.(Usually at Bommanahalli, Hosur,Coimbatore etc.)
Two time times I travelled in Karnataka volvo and they stopped at Hosur and Coimbatore for Parcel :( and with Kannada movies ( I am not sure always its Kannada movie or not)
If its non-Volvo I prefer YATRA Travels..
Good well maintained a/c bus (Interior) with friendly staff, cheap rates compared to volvo and ususally prompt timings.
Hi Sujith,
ReplyDeleteThe bus to chengannur is much more important than thiruvalla. In fact chengannur is best connecting point to many places . If we could see initially when chennai -tvm superfast express(fastest train after duronto and rajdhani in kerala) started earlier the only alloted stop between kottayam and kayamkulam was chengannur. Even if we take the reservation chart most of the people are to chengannur. Thiruvalla is really not that important place to be connected compared to chengannur. Thiruvalla service was started only because mathew.t.thomas was from that place else no one would have really bothered about starting a bus from there to bangalore. Still the feeling goes that tvla-bangalore deluxe should be extended till pathanamthitta/chengannur rather than terminating in tvla. Its not that if tvla delux runs empty it should be pulled to chengannur, thats completelly absurd.
@ Sooraj- Ur correct. I started feeling that sofiyalines is the best among private players nowadays. Very fast- perfect timings, good bus than most other operators, it stops at good restaurants. Even though they have only single bus/day they are good in their service. I prefer sofiyalines than most other pvt operators.
SRM volvo is also picking up their pace. Sometimes in terms of timings srm is faster than most others.
Great news... lets hope this happens at the earliest. According to me the volvos should be used in the following routes
ReplyDelete1. KTR- Bangalore
2. KTM- Bangalore
3. TVLA- Bangalore (This should be extended to Pathanamthitta and not to chengannoor. People in Chengannor can utilize the Kottarakara bus)
4. One of the AC buses from Thrissur (this could be extended to ernakulam)
Volvos should be used only in long routes.
lets wait for the golden day to arrive.
Once these are in the private players will get badly hit.
Let me comment to one point that the vigilance director made.. "less occupancy for the return trip"
ReplyDeleteThis is because for return trip online booking can be done only from Trivandrum. Please tell him to change this and automatically occupancy will increase
Hi Bilal
ReplyDeleteI think now we have option to putting boarding point from lot of stops including kollam allepey ekm trissur...etc
Regards
Anup.Nair
Anup what about the fare? do they have to pay the fare from TVM for that? If thats the case who will use the service.
ReplyDeleteIts a pity to hear that still they dont have any plans of replacing the deluxe buses. Doing maintenance work for the deluxe buses doesnt do any good. Everyone is aware about how good maintenance is done by KSRTC
ReplyDeleteHi Renjit
ReplyDeleteCurrently on kottarakara-Bangalore bus is having option of putting reservation from chengannur so there is no requirement for extenting thiruvalla bus to chengannur. I think if a new bus is started PTA will be a good option as currently chengannur has two train stopping at least on alternative date and one more think this bus is having ticket quota on Changanacherry and Allepy so extending this bus will not make any difference . And because of pvt bus group operating from TVLA only trains like chennai mail or Garib rath not getting a stops as they are more dependent on Tvla reservation than chennganur . One more bus is very much required as on weekend reservation staff was telling they were getting more enquires than the available seats.
Hi Billal
ReplyDeleteKallada and all pvt agency is charging 890 or 870 rs from TVLA Allepey and ekm and even if the booking is from TVM KSRTC its only 810 rs. In some coversion on this blog i seen they will revisit some of the fare stage but not sure.
Regards
Anup.Nair
Hello Anup,
ReplyDeleteDo we have a kottarakara-Bangalore bus>? Dont u know after the accident sometimes most of the days its cancelled or they run a ordinary superfast from palakkad depot. Kerala's second longest route run by a superfast in lieu of a deluxe---- disgusting isn't it?
Tvla, kottayam all have got deluxe as well as a/c buses. Kottarakara has a superfast and you expect chengannur people to wait for this bus which will never come!!! It sounds very much odd. People who use chengannur stand might not be from chengannur -they might be from many other sorrounding places. Once they come from that place and wait for KTR bus and finds that the bus is cancelled(in most cases) ...people will turn wild. Anyways my intention about explaining all these is not to cancel thiruvalla bus instead a really super-class service should be provided through chengannur to Kottarakara..
Kallada Volvos, shama, srm, sofiya lines all are charging 900-1000 rupees to bangalore. The same fare you have to pay if u are boarding from Tvm,kollam, ekm, tsr or kottayam thiruvalla or any other place. KSRTC volvo cost u only 825 rupees. Then there is no point of telling about the fare stages. But for the comfort for public as an RTC, ksrtc should think about it.
ReplyDeleteKottarakkara was running with an ac bus at beginning, then they degraded to deluxe bus. No people from ktr, adr, cgnr used this service. But still people wants a bus to ktr. If they are introducing a volvo in this route (TVM-KTR-KTM-MVPA-TSR-KKD-Mysore) (We got one permit in this route) it will be good for the people from that part.
ivitentha trissur pooramano? aarokke enthokke paranjalum ksrtc enthokke cheyyanamennu theerumanikkan ivite anungal undu. chengannurinum pathanamthittakkumonnum volvo kittumenna pratheeksga arkum venda.
ReplyDeletekallada multi unde pathanamthittakku, volvoil ponel athee keri pokkonam... illel ee parattayil poykko...
Dont compare KSRTC with the private players. the fare that is mentioned above is for the multi axle volvos.
ReplyDeleteIts quite common sense that the volvo doesnt have good occupancy on the trip to blore is beacuse of the fare stages.
Let them allow booking from KOllam, kayamkulam, alleppy and ernakulam and then see the difference
KSRTC rocks......
ReplyDeleteKSRTC varunnu ennu kettapole ninakku okke ithreyum pedi enthinaada Kallada Fan ey. nintey okke aappeesu poottikaanum ksrtc ye kondu pattum
ReplyDeleteORU KALLADA FAN VANNIRIKKUNNU...
ReplyDeleteveruthe samayam kalayan...
vere pani nokkikoode..????
Sujith, It is very nice to hear that KSRTC is going to take new initiative on Bangalore sector.
ReplyDeleteAfter our KSRTC meet we can present a clearer picture to the authorities about the hardship faced by the
commuters. One important thing to highlight to the managemennt is the possiblility to introduce buses to the places
where people can't depend on train services(Thodupuzha,pathanamthitta,Punaloor).
Sooraj and Renjith..Even I agree with you guys .Sofiya lines is the best among pvt volvos .In terms of timings and staff friendliness. This speaks for itself s in the reviews this bus has received on red bus web site. I have reached blr -tvm in 12 hrs flat!!!and they hardly waste time.. SRM is ok as well. Kallada and Shama are bad.KPN and KA KSRTC tooo slow as always!!!
ReplyDeleteKerala volvo was good in terms of timings and staff friendliness.
Yatra staff is horrible but manage to reach on time
We can expect atleast the new buses will take the salem instead of mysore..
ReplyDeleteEven if they dont introduce new atleast extend the current tvla deluxe till pta.. As pvt players are looting the passengers.
Only padickal transport gives back maximum comfort to its passengers. SHARMA is ok but their volvos are old. The driver told that volvos of sharma were earlier used in blore-mumbai route, with the introduction of Volvo multi axle and merc buses they start the pta and ktr service with volvos that were used in blore - mumbai route. BUT the sharma people are good in driving,they are patient, friendly too
they drive peacefully without causing much jerks to the people inside.
How Banglore DLX started from TVLA?..Only minister from Skeleton party ruled for short period..How KTR secured all premium services??That also th same back up.....
ReplyDeleteIf the Bus started from CGNR at least KSRTC can extract additional revenue go to railway..Still majority peoples PTA &certain areas from Kollam Dist.depend CGNR railway station..Thre's is the role of consumer feedback what KSRTC rulers unaware!!!!If Sujith's logic is applied(ANS4)All buses should start from Trivandrum(SOUTH)&KGD from North!!!!!!!!!!
Josef,
ReplyDeleteUr rite!! The sharma buses to kerala are mainly buses that ran between mumbai and blr. Anyways those buses are much better than most other pvt operators. Sharma is a pretty decent operator. I used to like their hospitality when i use travel to mumbai. their buses are excellent and clean. The main thing why i prefer ksrtc is the cost. I used to check up with ksrtc volvo about the tickets. If its available well and good and the next option is always sofiyalines. I think if sofiyalines reduces the cost the preference might shift towards it. So KSRTC should act in that way that it should match the quality of that operator. Forget about kallada and shama-they are now nowhere in the picture. If people dont get seats anywhere in these three then ppl prefer to go by that. Still sofiyalines is a small operator, but i respect them for creating a benchmark for bus quality, timings and well mannered staffs.
New Volvos will start before Onam .
ReplyDeleteSankar/sujith,
ReplyDeleteIs there a way you guys can suggest the routes for the newly coming volvos??
What is KSRTC's plans, are they planning to replace some of the existing routes or will they be fresh routes???
If you are planning to suggest, what are the routes that you have in mind...
1) Pathanamthitta- Bangalore via allepey (priority #1-should be new service . pref volvo tri-axle)
ReplyDelete2) Kottarakara-Bangalore via mvpa
3) Kannur-Bangalore via mattanoor
4) kasargod-Bangalore via mysore
5) one bus of TSR-bangalore
6) TVM-BLR should be tri-axle bus.(time should be 7pm from blr(madiwala))
7) one bus of EKM-BLR via kozhikode.
Rest i dont know im not really aware of other routes..............
Kannur, kasargod are really small routes. dont think a volvo is worth in these routes.
ReplyDeleteTSR- Bangalore, the current volvos running inn tvm-blr could be used for this as the distance is less
Ok Pretty warming news.
ReplyDeleteBut everyone please spend a second on one point. Will KSRTC operate their majority of services still through that old and timing consuming SBY-Mysore route??
Practically, it is taking around 15 hours for an 8 hour journey from EKM. Also why waste so much of fuel plying in that ghat road??
I have travelled from TVM-BLR and EKM-BLR on KaSRTC and KPN regularly, there is a myth on this forum that KaSRTC is slow, KaSRTC takes 10:30hrs from EKM and 14hrs from TVM which is same as KeSRTC, i have also travelled on KaSRTC to Mumbai where they cover 1010 Kms in 18hrs. Also the buses of KaSRTC is well maintained, which shows in there booking and they run extra buses on weekends and booked always full
ReplyDeleteHi anonymous u may be correct. Karnataka RTC used to put special buses on weekends and peek times. But do you know that how much they are charging for that?
ReplyDeleteOne of my cousin took the ticket for Airavat which they have introduced as a special service to Ernakulam last week. They charged some 900+ change instead of 580.
But we have to remember one thing that, people are there to travel like that by paying such a huge amount. Karnataka RTC is simply exploiting them like anything. Kerala RTC don't know to do that. Because they don't have any extra buses for putting as special services.
Hi Sujith
ReplyDeleteI had always seen permit issue as the hindrance for starting new service. Last week from EKm i had seen Karnata KSRTC had run 4 special service volvo(through PLKD) and some Rajahamsa. Similarly this is happening through thrissur-Bangalore route through perintelmanna for karnataka sariga. How are they getting permit for one or two days like this. Is this allowed?. and from EKM they charged 975 rs to bangalore.
Regards
Anup.Nair
Hi anup, i donno how ther are getting those permits like that. We can do an enquiry about it.
ReplyDeleteHi Sujith
ReplyDeleteI had send u the copy of ticket which my friend had booked on one of that bus last week
REgards
Anup.Nair
Inter state bus agreements allow running extra buses by paying extra tax, as Sujith told above KaSRTC has buses to run extra services where as KeSRTC does not have buses to run normal services
ReplyDeleteRegarding the special fare for extra buses, i had a lengthy discussion with KaSRTC official and he informed this is due to extra tax paying to Kerala govt and also for bus to come back empty in reverse direction
KSRTC can also think about Travel house like KaSRTC or they can encourage Travel Agents.
ReplyDeleteFor this first KSRTC has to start more premium services. Now a days more non Keralites
also started using KSRTC due to its low costs. Two weeks back I travelled in KSRTC A/C bus
to TSR and lot of non-Keralites were there. Travel was now so comfort lots of
noise from the body parts.. and unfortunately bus got breakdown at Valayar.
Somehow they managed to reach Palakkad and from there we continued our Journey in a Super Fast.
Definitely this is a bad mark to KSRTC.. What about the mind set of those non-Keralites
those travelled in that bus.?? Most of my friends are not preferring KSRTC only
due to this un expected breakdowns.. One day I had to go to TVM due to an emergency...
And I called KSRTc banglore to know about the ticket status... and I got pathetic answer like
our Volvo met with an accident and they are not sure whether it will come to Bangalore or not and
if it reaches Bangalore the service will be there.... think about the people who
reserved seat in that bus.? if its in week end definitely we wont get any ticket and we may
need to cancel the trip..? in this condition how people will trust on KSRTC..??
This situation should be changed... at least on spare bus( A/C ) should be here to run in
emergency..ok Accidents can be unexpected what about Break Down.? 50% these break down
can be avoided with proper maintenance and repairs... I used to see Sofiya Line
buses in front of Volvo Service center twice or thrice in a week means they are
doing some maintenance activities and they keep the trust of passengers... I found
Travel Agents are promoting SRM ( May be due to high Commission ) and people demanding
for Sofiya Lines.... I Dreamt of a day people are demanding for KSRTC Seats...
I want to understand the logic behind the fares of volvo that run between tvm and blore. Initially when i used to travel from blr to mumbai, i used to pay 1025rs (either its mercedes, volvo or multi-axle). All the operators like konduskar, shivneri, sharma, vrl, hkb everyone charges the same. Why is kallada charging 940rs or sofiyalines(1050) keralsrtc(875) for their volvo to trivandrum.Mumbai-bangalore distance is 1000km - bangalore- tvm(758km). Nearly about 250km lesser than that. I have seen certain kerala based operators charging more for their multi-axle buses. Why is it happening? Whats the rationale behind that. multi-axle itself means that it has got 8 seats more than the normal volvo. So a travel operator will normally get more than what he gets from the normal bus so it shouldnot be extracted from the passenger. I mean they shouldnot project multi-axle as something extraordinary vehicle and charge more. When we check the specifications of B9R in the volvo site it has still got the 7.4 l engine compared to 12l engine of 3-axle mercedes. I wish passengers shouldnot be looted in this way. If Keralasrtc introduces a multi-axle atleast they should follow the same tariff or even lesser. People should be aware of these things else travel operators might just extract!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks
@ Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYa there is always a myth regarding kasrtc running slow. It's a fact. I can't say all Kasrtc's slow but they r slower than keralasrtc. You can enter into any keralasrtc bus they maintain time ( i mean 90 % will maintain time) whereas kasrtc ( only 35%). For example kasrtc tvm volvo starts at 4 pm and ke srtc starts at 5 pm . I could always see kasrtc volvo after I get down in Alappuzha. Most of the time i used to reach at 4 am, ka-volvo reaches at 4: 20 am . This is the difference. Its the same case with palakkad-bangalore volvo. Our plkd-blr superdeluxe reaches at 4:20 am at madiwala . This is what we call as maintaining the time even with a poor quality bus. So think , if our government has got buses like karnataka we would be really ahead in terms of transportation unfortunately we dont!!! Let's expect Kesrtc to grow up , I mean let's support to grow up!!....
KaSRTC had same fare for multi axle & 2 axle volvo to Channai
ReplyDeleteKeSRTC new volvos will be through Calicut - Mysore
ReplyDeleteRegarding fares to TVM very high, i think this is due to all the private operators have joined hands and rigged the fares also the number of buses operating between BLR-TVM may be around 15 between 4-5 operators
ReplyDeleteRegarding BLR-MUM fares, even though there are 3 trains and around 50 Volvo buses plying on the route competition is very intense and hence the fares are low compared to TVM
If the new volvos are through mysore calicut, then forget it.. No use, no benefit and also no profit
ReplyDeletekutupuzha makkootam road has opened on 5 th June so it more convenient to the bangalore passengers from Kannur payyanur tellichherry side and kilometer is reduceing from50 km
ReplyDeletethe charges also reduced