Just left SSPN late by just 3 hours & 34 minutes! What a journey? More coming tomorrow....

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Rameswaram to Madurai - my longest in a TNSTC bus

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October 01, 2012 was a very special day for the railfan in me – I got the opportunity to visit Rameshwaram – this meant crossing the Pamban bridge by train and even take some photos of a train passing the bridge later on. But sleepless nights and intense heat coupled with high humidity took a toll on me – I was dead tired by afternoon, and we had no option but to beat retreat. After lunch (which I barely managed to eat – was too exhausted even for that), we (I was accompanied by Jayasankar on the trip) headed to the bus station (we took a town bus). We were heading back to Madurai – there was a TATA bus standing ready, but both of us wanted a Leyland. The next bus in queue was a Leyland. We decided to take this one. We headed towards the bus – TN-63N-1546 from Thirupattur depot of TNSTC-Karaikudi. We took seat in the front of the bus – the driver came around and suggested that we could take a seat at the back, which would be more comfortable. I confirmed that the seats at th
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First ride on Airavat Diamond Class: Bangalore to Thrissur

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Scania was launched in India about two years back. The initial product as only the 14.5M variant, followed by the 12M and the 13.7M variants. The first institutional buyer to purchase the 13.7m variant was the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. KSRTC went in for a new brand name for the Scanias, and called them the Airavat Diamond Class . The basic question, like everyone asked, was - what is the difference between the Diamond Class and the Club Class. One primary difference was that Club Class used Volvo B9Rs and Mercedes Benz Multi-Axle buses, while Diamond Class used newer Scania Metrolink HD 13.7m multi-axle buses. Club Class buses have a seating capacity of 49 (44 semi-sleeper seats and 5 regular 'executive' seats), while Diamond Class buses have only 46 seats - all semi-sleeper. The fares are the same in both the classes. Airavat Diamond Class was first inducted into the KSRTC fleet sometime during the end of June 2015. They initially replaced the first set of
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The evolution of bus travels in India - Part-1

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Sometime in early 2000s: It was about 2 years since we had moved to Mumbai from Coimbatore. It was perhaps the first time we were traveling to our hometown in Kerala after moving to Mumbai. We were traveling by road - my brother at the wheels of our Omni - he was the only driver in the family back then. We traveled via Ratnagiri, Panaji, Karwar, Mangalore, Kasaragod and Kozhikode. On the highway, spotted quite a lot of buses - owned by an operator called "Benzy". Those days, Benzy was the leading operator on the Mumbai-Thrissur route - buses took about 24 hours those days to cover the distance from Mumbai to Mangalore - and another 10 hrs or so to reach Thrissur! How do people travel such long distances by bus was the question I had in my mind back then. Buses were mostly used for short distances then. The longest journey I've experienced those days was between Coimbatore and Alappuzha - a distance of about 6 hours then.  Premium buses of the yesteryears... The
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