‘RTC buses are taking the same time as trains to reach their destination'
Peeved with not getting reservation on trains to destinations like Hyderabad, Tirupathi, Chennai and Bangalore?
Relax. You can try ‘Vennela', ‘Garuda plus' and ‘Garuda' services of AP State Road Transport Corporation to travel in air-conditioned comfort.
Thanks to the indifference of the Railways in providing additional coaches and special trains despite the high demand, many passengers are finding the AC services of RTC as a cool alternative. The corporation has come out with state-of-the-art Isuzu Sleeper coaches (Vennela) and multi-axle Volvo buses to cater to the high demand of passengers travelling from the city.
“The berths on Vennela are very good and are comparable to 3-tier AC in trains. These buses are taking the same amount of time to reach their destination as trains and due to their advanced features the comfort levels are also high,” said M.R.K. Mitra, a fabricator from Rajahmundry, who travels frequently to Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Bangalore. “An added advantage of RTC is that, in the unlikely event of a breakdown, an alternative bus is immediately rushed to the spot. Those who travel by private buses remain stranded on the road during such times,” he says.
“I travelled from Vizag to Bangalore recently. The running and food service on board were good. I had opted for RTC as I had to go urgently and there was no room on trains,” Srinivas of Srikakulam said.
“While the long distance AC services are very good, mineral water bottles are not being given by RTC in short distance services like Bangalore to Chittoor unlike its competitors in the private sector,” says Ramakrishna, Vice Principal of AP Residential School at Chittoor.
He, however, feels that RTC is more reliable.
A free pick-up and drop facility for passengers travelling by AC was launched by RTC Executive Director (Engineering and IT) G. Jaya Rao recently.
“This is a value-added service for our passengers and we plan to introduce more such passenger-friendly features in the near future,” says Regional Manager Y. Jagadeesh Babu.
“The free pick-up facility is available for passengers who book their tickets in advance. At present, it is extended to those staying to the north of the city like Madhurawada, Rushikonda and MVP Colony and it will be extended to other areas based on demand,” Deputy Chief Traffic Manager (Rural) Jeevan Prasad said.
Keywords: Vennela, Garuda plus, APSRTC, Isuzu Sleeper coaches
Horrible! I can never forget the trip I made from Hyderabad to Chennai
once. Right now, there is no alternative to our train!!!
when it comes to freedom of movement, trains are very much the choice... if in case u have a kid with u, trains have to be the choice... and reliability... even though an alternate arrangement would be made, its always better to trust the train than a bus for the same... unless something like an accident has hapened on the rail, i.e.,
and abt wht Mr Rajasekaran has mentioned... The same thing happens in train too, so that shouldnt be a reason not to use the bus... How many times have we heard in teh news that an entire coach has been mugged... so that happens in a train too...
and abt Rao's comment.. its very true... how much ever educated we are, all we care is within the limits of the house it should be clean.. if anything happens outside, i do not bother.. and i will not bother if i myself have to litter.. and thats something that we have in our attitude.. time to correct ourselves.. everytime we throw a choc cover, dont forget that u are part of community thats creating this...
Any thoughts on ecological impact (congestion, road building, pollution,
best use of non-renewable-fuel)?
Safety, comfort and convenience ought to be the other factors, but
perhaps the way Indian railways are being run (-down?), there is little
to recommend the state-run monolith.
When buses are new berths and curtains will look all squeaky clean. Within weeks
you will have bugs, snot, dirt and stains. We have not taught cleanliness at the grassroots level. Gandhi said " Cleanliness is greater than godliness" - this remains a slogan. We build new international airports , within weeks they look rundown with spit marks, carpets torn and full of stains [carpets are meant for dust free cold countries], we have no idea of how maintain things. And we get hurt when foreigners criticize us.
A friend of ours traveled from Chennai to Vizag on a private bus service and lost 15,000 Rs. Another passenger on the bus stole the money and got down enroute. Even though they know who the passenger they could not do anything. These sleeper buses are not at all secure. Passengers beware !!
what ever be the comforts and facilities in the road transport system, when the question of personal comforts is taken into consideration from the patients view ,toilets and free movements of limbs ,etc, track bound system of transport is better than one man controlled road transport.
While they are a good alternative, the bus would definitely be costlier than the train.
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