Kerala SRTC's AC Airbus....

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation - the state run transport company of India's southern most state, Kerala - is always slow in bringing about modern technologies to their system. The corporation inducted two Volvo buses at the time when Volvo was being introduced in India But unfortunately, the cash-stripped organisation decided against purchasing more Volvos due to their poor financial condition.

This corporation, later introduced AC buses in Kerala. The first service was inaugurated sometime in 2005 with services between Trivandrum and Bangalore. Later, services were introduced from Kottarakkara and Kozhikode to Bangalore as well. The buses were Ashok Leyland/Tata front engined vehicles with about 40 seats. Some time later, in last quarter of 2007, KSRTC introduced more AC buses. A fleet of about 20 TATA Globus vehicles were introduced. Currently, KSRTC operates about 29 (or 30?) AC buses. A few of them are Leyland buses (old ones), while the new ones are entirely TATA ones.


A KSRTC AC Airbus waiting for departure to Kozhikode from Bangalore

The newly introduced buses operate on the Thiruvananthapuram-Bangalore, Kottayam-Bangalore, Ernakulam-Bangalore, Thrissur-Bangalore, Kozhikode Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram-Palakkad routes.

The bus schedules are:
  1. TVM-BGLR: 1330; BGLR-TVM: 1600 (Via ALP, PLKD)
  2. EKM-BGLR: 0610; BGLR-EKM: 0700 (Via KKD)
  3. EKM-BGLR: 2115; BGLR-EKM: 2230 (Via KKD)
  4. KTM-BGLR: 1600; BGLR-KTM: 1830 (Via PLKD)
  5. TSR-BGLR: 2000; BGLR-TSR: 1930 (Via PLKD)
  6. TSR-BGLR: 2100; BGLR-TSR: 2200 (Via PLKD)
  7. KKD-BGLR: 1000; BGLR-KKD: 2200 (Via MYS)
  8. KKD-BGLR: 2200; BGLR-KKD: 1200 (Via MYS)
  9. TVM-PLKD: 0600; PLKD-TVM: 1530
(Legend: TVM: Thiruvananthapuram; KTM: Kottayam; ALP: Alappuzha; PLKD: Palakkad; EKM: Ernakulam; TSR: Thrissur; KKD: Kozhikode; MYS: Mysore)

The crew are smartly dressed and wear a blue colored shirt unlike the normal "Khakhi". The buses have reservation facility, and one can reserve tickets about 15 days in advance. The only reservation counter at Bangalore is at the Kempegowda Bus station. The buses have a TV also - not sure if they are used during the day!

I'm not aware of the traveling conditions in the bus, but from what I've heard, they're pretty comfortable. My opinion is reserved till I travel on one!

Comments

Anonymous said…
KSRTC A/C buses also run between TVM and Calicut. And one of them met with an accident recently
Anonymous said…
I have travelled twice in this Kerala SRTC A/c bus and I felt the journey very comfortable. Staffs are very co-operative.
Anonymous said…
I have travelled twice in this Kerala SRTC A/c bus and I felt the journey very comfortable. Staffs are very co-operative. - Sreekumar
Anonymous said…
Now a days I am using these KSRTC buses for my travel to KERALA. Its cheap also very comfort than KALLADA VOLVO services... Only drawback is we have to board at Majestic.
Anonymous said…
Kerala AC buses are far much better than private buses (even private volvo's don't match with with them).I think Majestic is the best place for boarding as it is the city center & most people find that place easily approachable rather than kalasipalayam & madiwala.
Anonymous said…
It is quite super....It used to take some what one or two hour less time to reach destination when compaired to private busses and super fast.And most impportantly emplyees are very coporative
ANSON said…
MISSING FROM LIST There is one AC bus from pala.
time from pala is 2.00 pm and from BNGLR I think its on 1.30 pm .
Binai K Sankar said…
Dear Anson,

This post was made in April 2008. There was no AC service to Pala back then. The Pala service started only in December 2008.

BTW, the Kottarakkara AC service mentioned in the post is no more. The bus was replaced with a Super Deluxe sometime in October 2008.
Unknown said…
HI

There is no ac bus for Kerala other than one volvo. they have stopped all AC bus , All other state is increasing the number of AC bus , our state is stopping the same . I don't blame only the KSRTC, it is also equally responsible by staff, route planner.

how come private and other state are making money.

our minister is also not interested or not enough t knowledge about the same