It is a nightmare to travel by KSRTC Volvo bus, particularly between Mysuru and Bengaluru. Though people choose to travel by Volvo AC bus as seats are comfortable and there is enough leg space, those who travelled from Mysuru to Bengaluru on Monday complained that while the condition of the bus was bad, air-conditioner bus was not functioning at all.
In fact when the passengers realised that air-conditioner was not working, they told the driver to stop at Srirangapatna depot and ensure that the bus is changed. But he did not oblige because of which the passengers, who had paid an exorbitant fare, had to travel without AC. What added to the passengers’ woes was the fact that they could not even open the windows of the bus.
The passengers had an argument with the driver and some of them even threatened that they would go to the consumer court as they have been forced to travel in a poorly maintained bus without the facilities that they were promised. Some of them, on reaching their destination, complained to the KSRTC authorities that their travel was very uncomfortable as they were forced to take a poorly-maintained bus without an air-conditioner.
When asked to comment, a KSRTC Volvo bus driver, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that earlier buses that have covered 12 lakh km would be phased out, but not it has been increased to 15 lakh km.
When the Deputy Mechanical Engineer of KSRTC Jagadish was contacted, he said: “We service all Volvo buses in such a manner that they can run 50,000 km without any problems. Air-condition facility, push back seats, automatic door opening facility were all attended to and buses were completely overhauled”.
Expressing surprise over the incident on Monday, he said that he would check with the drivers of the buses and set right the glitches if any.
However senior officials of the KSRTC did not like to speak about the age of the Volvo buses.
