Andhra RTC shines!

People in Andhra Pradesh always looked up to the  bus services in Tamil Nadu. Tamilnadu has a huge network of good roads, large number of private players running the local transport, low cost fares and deep penetration to all rural areas...  well, that was the story of Tamil Nadu. Now it is a story of missed opportunities. 

Andhra Pradesh systematically built its infra in bus stations with amenities like toilets, shops, eateries, police, luggage movement facility etc. On the other hand, Tamilnadu never built any infra. Most its bus stations are open spaces with filth and stench. Few bus stations like Trichy, Madurai, Dindugal are filthy with people openly defecating everywhere. CMBT has some sense of logic and order, but again sanitation, hygiene of the food sold there is certainly not fit for human consumption. Traders are exploitative and the officials take their cut and choose to look the other way. A sense of pride in cleanliness and hygiene is absent in Tamilnadu. 

The private omni bus stand is a ocean of filth and garbage. Even the private carries which run fancy Volvo services have no pride in what they do. Their interest in their work ends the moment that sell the ticket. All the en route stops are dumps where food and water in not fit for human consumption and sanitation is non existent. It is a living torture in hell for any woman travelling in these buses. 

APSRTC has played a predatory role in taking up all the business in inter state transport from Tamilnadu. The Northern border towns of Tamilnadu are served better by APSRTC. There are more inter-state buses from Andhra to Chennai and Vellore than vice versa. Only one or two Tamilnadu buses venture into the other States.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have moved up the value chain and run long distance Volvo buses. Volvo services run by APSRTC travel from Chennai to Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam faster than the much fancied express and mail trains. In a latest move operators from Hyderabad  are running a Volvo service to Coimbatore and Trivandrum! These buses are fully booked fifteen days in advance!! 

Tamilnadu air conditioned buses are famously called "bhoot banglow bus" and they operate predominantly on Chennai-Bangalore sector. The service is so pathetic that it is simply enough to say that one should avoid this bus instead of writing a para about it. 

 Once respected Tamilnadu bus services have gone into a shell.  Can they redefine themselves?

Redhills to Tambaram - Route no 114 A/c Volvo

The aircon volvo proved all detractors wrong. Most of the people scoffed at the idea of starting a volvo ac bus from Redhills. Redhills is a suburb in the northern fringe of the city. Apart from its location on the nh, it is also a major market for rice from british days. It is a meeting point for ambattur, tiruvallur, nellore and the eastern costal villages.

MTC started with four buses. The buses are full even during non peak hours. During peak hours, one can get  a seat if lucky. When the first four buses started, the conductors were polite and smiling. Now the ac buses have become full and overflowing. Conducors have become rude and have started doing crowd control!!! Yelling, snapping, goading has become part of life like in the normal non ac buses!

Like in the case of all other bus services, the timings of the ac buses from Redhills are kept as a secret by MTC. They challenge the traveller to find out or pray its their lucky day!! The patronage could be up by atleast 30% if the MTC were to atlest give "indicative" timings!!!!

MTC website on cue!

Yesterday, I was wondering when our city would have a interactive transport website. Today "The HIndu" in anrticle http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/21/stories/2010102161030300.htm wrote an article. I went further and checked the information in
http://chennaicityconnect.com/project-blogs/public-transport/mtc-website/ . Well, it is nice to know that we are on the way!

Using technology to track urban travel

I saw this interesting blog today.
 http://digihub.watoday.com.au/node/1880

What they have done in Australia is not rocket science. It is a sincere effort to bring various agencies under one single point. It is not costly to build and can be implemented easily in Chennai with little imagination.. There maybe claims that the large number of people may not use the facility. This is wrong. The details can be used in public display even in rural areas.

It can also be tweaked to indicate if there are seats available in long distance buses entering mofossil areas. It will be here eventually.... how soon is the question!

Travel from Chennai to Hosur (Bangalore)

Travel from Chennai to Hosur (Bangalore!)

There is a new Volvo bus to get to Bangalore – if your journey is till or in and around Hosur.

The Volvo from Chennai starts at 10am and reaches Hosur (317 kms) in 5hrs and 30 minutes. There is another service to Hosur at 22.00 Timings in return direction are at 10am and at 17.30hrs. The fare for Volvo service in Tamil Nadu is generally about Re1/km.

Travel from Chennai to Pondicherry

Travel from Chennai to Pondicherry


Chennai to Pondicherry by Volvo A/c bus is happening!!

The first bus starts at 6am at Koyambedu (CMBT) Chennai. There is a bus every hour till 21.00 hrs. The fare is Rs.170. The bus passes through Tiruvanmiyur. So, one can also hop in at Tiruvanmiyour.

The first bus from Pondicherry is at 6am and the last bus at 22.00hrs. Almost at hourly frequency !
The seats are non reclining but here is lot of space for luggage. While the journey time is less than three hours, every bus spends half an hour trying to “fill” the bus. So including this time wastage, it takes about 3 hours of comfortable journey. There is no need to reserve seats in this bus. Being at the start point about ten minutes before journey is good enough to ensure a seat.

This is much better than a taxi as it is almost on time and safe. A good set of ear plugs to cut out the music is recommended.