My Worst Travel Experience with an Omni bus

It was once again from Tirunelveli to Puducherry as usual as a yearly trip to my native place. This time it was planned urgently, so I could not get return tickets in my usual bus PRTC from Nagercoil to Puducherry, though I got seats for the onward journey. 

So, I decided to go for a UNIVERSAL TRAVELS bus from Thiruvananthapuram to Puducherry, via Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Tuticorn, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Chidambaram, Cuddalore and then to Puducherry. Yes, he took the ECR route from Tuticorn to Nagapattinam via Ramanathapuram which was opened for traffic just few days before the travel. 

The bus was a 2 in 1 Sleeper and Semi-Sleeper. I opted for a Semi-Sleeper ticket. The timing, he is supposed to start from Tirunelveli was at 8 PM. So, I was waiting near the Junction Bus stand from 7:45 PM. I was waiting, waiting and waiting for around One and a half hours.  He came at 9:30. The first impression itself dashed my hopes of a happy trip in a Omni bus. The bus was a brand new bus registered at Karaikal, making its 2^nd trip I suppose. 

He started at 9:45 after all the passengers came and he left for Tuticorn. He reached there after an hour. He stopped there for break for half-an-hour. The seat was almost filled with passengers bound to Karaikal being most of them. Though I was half awake during the night, I remember he was going through some deep interior village roads, loading and unloading parcels in the mid-night. Though the ECR road from Ramanathapuram to Tuticorn was open for traffic few weeks before, he didn’t even travel 10% of the distance in that.  At last around morning 4 AM, he touched the ECR road. At that instant only I came to know that he was going via ECR to Karaikal. Till that moment, I was not even aware that he will be going to Karaikal. Also, a passenger who boarded the bus along with us asked whether it will go to Karaikal. I was wondering and I said no. Finally, he reached Karaikal at morning 6 AM, which was too slow for an Omni bus. This was one part of the sad story. 

The second part comes here:

He came to Chidambaram at around 8 AM, dropped the passengers and he left. During the mid of the travel, he was moving damn slow just like a bullock-cart. After around 30 minutes, I got irritated and enquired the driver. He said that someone left their handbag in the bus. So only he was moving very slow. Finally, the passenger came at 8:50 near Mutlur and took the handbag. Finally we came to Pondy at 10:45 AM. The bus, which was supposed to come at 7 AM in the morning to Puducherry, was almost 3 hours late. 

From, that moment I decided not to take Universal Travels any more in my life. After that, 2 years has passed by and it was only once, I travelled in am Omni bus, SHARMA to Coimbatore from Pondy. 

Even RATHI MEENA operates a 2 in 1, Sleeper cum Semi-Sleeper coach to Thiruvananthapuram. He takes the following route: Thiruvananthapuram – Tiruchirapalli, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Mailaduthurai, Chidambaram, Cuddalore. He overtook the Universal bus just before we reached Chidambaram.

Fleet Strength of Various State Transport Undertakings

S.No	State Transport Corporation	Fleet Strength
1	Tamilnadu State Transport Corporation - 6 Divisions	16111
2	Metropolitan Transport Corporation - Chennai	3421
3	State Express Transport Corporation - Tamilnadu	1008
4	Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation	7599
5	Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation	6098
6	North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation	4030
7	North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation	4315
8	Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation	22183
9	Kerala State Road Transport Corporation	5912
10	Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation	15500
11	Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation	8000
12	Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation	7668
13	Pepsu Road Transport Corporation - Punjab	938
14	Delhi Transport Corporation	6675
15	Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport - Mumbai	3900

PRTC - Small Corporation with lot of Problems

Private Lobby in Puducherry

             Puducherry, a Union Territory is a small thickly populated stretch in the coastal region of Tamilnadu. PRTC - Puducherry Road Transport Corporation, the State Run Transport Undertaking of Union Territory of Puducherry, has a fleet strength of little lesser than 100, and is probably the smallest State Transport Undertaking in India and one among the loss making State Transport Undertakings in India.

               This small Corporation is up with hundreds of problem, both from internally and externally.  If not for these problems caused from various sources internally and externally, they would have run in profits and would have a better reputation for themselves.

               The major source of problem is considered to be the strong private operator lobby in the UT, which is also a major problem in the two densely populated South Indian states of Tamilnadu and Kerala.  Some of the problems caused by them, not only to PRTC, but for Puducherry as a whole are given below.

About Private Operators in Puducherry

               The private bus population in Puducherry is around 520, a majority of which are owned by MLAs and ex-MLAs in Puducherry.  Apart from this, there are a few Tempos / Share Autos running in short distance routes where buses are not plying. The private buses, operate in almost all local routes  of Puducherry and also connect the neighboring towns of Puducherry.  They are the one who control the issuing of permits for any Government buses, in the routes where they dominate.  They have caused a lot of problems to Puducherry and PRTC, which extends even to Central Government projects. Some of them are: 

1.                                 In the 1990s, Puducherry was connected by a 35 km long Meter Gauge track, with trains to Chennai,  Tirupathi and Villupuram. Indian Railways decided to convert this to a Broad Gauge line and also decided to connect Cuddalore to Tindivanam via Puducherry. The DPR was also prepared for the same, and the distance was estimated to be 53 km. If, the trains were operated in this route, this would seriously affect the private buses operating in this route and ruin their business. The then CM of Puducherry, Mr. Janakiraman, who is considered to own the largest private bus fleet with him, even now, took efforts to deny the new track between Cuddalore and Tindivanam, by modifying the route to 153 km, in the DPR, that was submitted by the officials. He also, denied upgradation of the Puducherry – Villupuram MG section to BG. Finally, this small stretch was upgraded and electrified in 2004, in Mr. N.Rangaswamy’s tenure with Congress.

2.                                 The Garibrath Train, running between Yeswantpur and Puducherry, which was announced as a tri-weekly train between Bangalore and Puducherry, is still running as a weekly train. This train was introduced with a view that, there are lot of people moving between the two destinations during the weekends and is poised to keep increasing. The private operators alone ply 80% of the buses in this route. The private operators alone ply around 50 buses between the two places during the weekends, including big-shots like KPN, SRS, Parbeen Travels etc. This strong private operators lobby have denied a tri-weekly Garibrath Express to Puducherry, which was also supposed to run on Sunday nights from Puducherry, is running on Saturday nights from Puducherry.

PRTCs Sorry State

The private operators denied a lot of things for PRTC. Some of them are given below:  

There are lot of educational institutions, ranging from Government to Private Schools and Colleges, scattered in all places, cratering to the needs of lakhs of students, belonging to all the four districts of Puducherry. So, PRTC planned to operate Students Special buses, in Puducherry region, which craters specially to students, charging them Re 1for a single trip. The actual plan was that, PRTC will get buses for lease from private operators and then operate in its own name. This decision was taken because of lack of funds from PRTC to purchase enough buses.  For that purpose, PRTC has even made the permits ready for around 69 buses to operate in Puducherry, connecting different villages in Puducherry UT. The strong private lobby, denied PRTC this act and did some illegal actions, so that the buses could be operated in their own name and the revenues from this will be going to the private operators. The buses operated by private people, actually does not follow several guidelines of RTO, for operating students buses.

PRTC, decided to ply 50 Non-AC Semi Low Floor buses and 10 AC Volvo Low Floor buses in Puducherry region, funded by Central Government, under JnNURM. All of these buses were supposed to run in new permits, in additional to the already operated local buses by PRTC. Again, here the strong private lobby came to influence and denied them 24 Non-AC Semi Low Floor buses and 10 AC Volvo buses, allowing them only 26 buses to be inaugurated on June 7^th, 2010, which was almost 1 ½ years, later than they actually planned. Also, they were denied new permits and they were operated as a replacement to the already plying town buses in Puducherry. Of the 26 buses, 20 buses are running in old permits and 4 buses are operated as Ladies special, which used to run empty all the times. Recently only, they have placed orders for 14 Non-AC Semi Low Floor buses, which are to run in new permits, in new routes (unknown date of inauguration) and 10 Low Floor AC buses which will be most probably run in inter-city routes.

Some of the problems PRTC is facing internally and the effect of these are discussed below:

            Most of the PRTC buses are more than 5 years old. They all have done a lot of kms than their actual lifetime.  But still most of them are running in the roads with frequent irregularity. Though PRTC had sent a proposal to the Puducherry Government to replace all their buses, so that there can be atleast some regularity in the service, there is no response from the Government side. Puducherry Government is finding difficulty to sanction funds to PRTC to procure new buses. But, things are not over. This is the case with the buses in inter-city route.

            In the case of local buses in Puducherry, around 4 services are not running everyday due to lack of drivers, who are specifically for running the local routes. While on one hand, there are drivers who wait for bus to be allocated to them for that day, return empty handed  in the evening, there are buses which are not run due to lack of adequate drivers. Wow, what an organization. Some of the employees complaint on PRTC’s GM Kishore Kumar for all the problems caused, which otherwise PRTC would have run in profits. 

The Fund Crunch 

            Some years ago, they were in really tough financial situation that, they didn’t even have funds to renew the permits of the already running buses. This came to the limelight when a PRTC bound to Puducherry from Bangalore met with an accident near Villupuram. This led to the cancellation of the AC Volvo bus that was plying between Puducherry and Bangalore, after Karnataka High Court ordered PRTC to stop the service. But, sources say that there is a proposal to re-run the bus. There were also some rumors that the service was stopped due to some bus repair and again another rumor that it was stopped as it was loss making. 

            The extreme case of lack of funds from PRTC and the Government side is that, they are yet to get a bus allocated for their Karaikal – Mahe (Volvo actually proposed) and Karaikal – Tirupathy. These routes were proposed and were to be inaugurated shortly after 2 Volvos were procured for Karaikal – Chennai and Puducherry – Bangalore services in 2007.  This also makes them cancel some of the existing services (Karaikal – Tiruchi and one Karaikal  - Chennai service). Also, the Kariakal – Chennai Volvo is also an irregular guy. The same holds true for PRTC not exploring new Inter-state routes. Some of the potential and must be operated routes for PRTC, which are not operated as of now are: 

• ·         Puducherry – Coimbatore
• ·         Karaikal – Bangalore
• ·         Puducherry – Yanam

The Better Side

PRTC very recently replaced their buses in Puducherry- Mahe and Puducherry – Nagercoil route with a 38 seater Luxury Coach bus. Though they can’t procure buses at one go, they do have necessary funds for replacing buses slowly. Their initial plan is to replace all the overnight journey buses. The next priority is to replace the buses in Puducherry – Bangalore, Karaikal – Coimbatore and Puducherry – Kumuli routes, which are presently served by very old buses, apart from introducing buses in Karaikal – Mahe and Karaikal – Tirupathi routes.

After they have all the buses replaced, they are planning to introduce a website with Online Ticket Reservation System, so that they can have regularity in the services. The reason they didn’t do it till now was due to lack of adequate buses and spare buses. So, things are not over yet we are to see more of them.

My First Travel Experience in Private AC bus

It was 5th of June, 2010. I was doing my Summer Internships then, with HCL Infosystems at Chennai. I was all set for my first overnight journey in an AC bus.

Actually, during the mid of may, when my brother's marriage date in Tirunelvely was confirmed, i was determined to travel in an AC bus. I was confused a lot as i was left with lot of choices, while booking the tickets.  I got the following options after a brief search over the internet and www.redbus.in

1. SETC AC Coach bus: Fare Rs 560. 
2. ABTX Travels AC bus: Fare Rs 605. 
3. SRM Travels Volvo: Rs 890. 

I omitted SRM Travels as the cost was too high. I also omitted SETC AC Coach as, i found the travel time too high for an AC bus, in a stretch which is 100% 4 lane road. I was thinking of booking in TNSTC AC Coach bus, but TNSTC AC bus was full. So, i was left with the last option of ABT Travels. It was an Ashok Leyland 12m Chaises. I booked the ticket. The departure point was Koyambedu Private bus stand, at 6 PM. I went there at 5:30 PM and took the boarding pass immediately and he asked me to wait in the AC Waiting hall, where there were other passengers bound to Tirunelvely and Nagercoil. The bus came from Guindy, where ABT has it's own depot. It came at 6:05 PM and departed at 6:15 PM after all the passengers came. The bus was almost 75% full. He took the Maduravoyal by-pass route and had Perungalathur as the third boarding point. This was the last point from where he boarded the passengers.

After this, he was flying like a rocket, in his maximum speed. SRM Volvo was the only bus that overtook us. He, stopped for dinner at 8:40 PM somewhere between Tindivanam and Villlupuram. I remember, it was around 9:10, when he by-passed Villupuram. After that, i felt asleep and in between I used to wake up and see where was the bus moving. It was 11:40, when he was by-passing Tiruchirapalli. After that, i felt deeply asleep and it was around 1:30, when he stopped for break near Kovilpatti. After he started from there, i was never feeling sleepy. The drivers got exchanged and the new driver (who was the original driver, dressed up in White and White uniform) started driving and he was driving very slow. Even, normal Express buses from TNSTC and SETC overtook this bus during the short 1 hour trip. Finally, he reached Tirunvely Junction Bus stand at sharply 3 AM, from where i boarded an auto to a lodge near Vannarpettai. When enquired about the timing of the bus with the auto wala, he told that this bus came half-an-hour earlier today.

I was really surprised and got impressed with the travel as he was faster than some of the trains that run in this route. Earlier, Chennai - Tirunelvely, used to take 14 hours in the single 2 lane road. 

List of Ministers from AINRC for Puducherry and Portfolios allocated

1.       N.Rangaswamy – Chief Minister

a.       Confidential and Cabinet

b.      General Administrations

c.       Home

d.      Revenue and Excise

e.      Public Works

f.        Planning and Finance

g.       Electricity

h.      Co-operation

i.         Health

j.        Town and Country Planning

k.       Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

l.         Science, Technology and Environment

m.    All other subjects not allocated to any Minister

2.       P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram – Transport Minister

a.       Transport

b.      Information Technology

c.       Colligate and School Education

d.      Sports and Youth Affairs

e.      Arts and Culture

f.        Government Automobile Workshop

3.       M.Chandrakasu - Agricultire Minister

a.       Agriculture

b.      Animal Husbandry

c.       Industries and Commerce

d.      Economics and Statistics

e.      Stationery and Printing

f.        Port

4.       P.Rajavelu – Welfare Minister

a.       Social Welfare

b.      Adi Dravidar Welfare

c.       Women and Child Welfare

d.      Backward Class Welfare

e.      Labour and Employment

f.        Tourism

5.       N.G.Panneerselvam -  Local Administration Minister

a.       Local Administration Department

b.      Community Department

c.       DRDA;

d.      Urban Basic Services

e.      Fisheries

f.        Housing

g.       Fire Services

Bus Timings at Puducherry Bus Stand

Sl No	Destination	Time	Service Type	Via
1	Bangalore	9:00	SETC-UD	Tindivanam
2	Thiruvananthapuram	16:30	SETC-UD
3	Ernakulam	17:00	SETC-UD
4	Tiruchendur	17:45	SETC-UD
5	Coimbatore	19:45	SETC-UD	Cuddalore
6	Bangalore	20:30	SETC-UD	Cuddalore
7	Tirupathi	20:45	SETC-LC
8	Coimbatore	21:00	SETC-LC	Villupuram
9	Madurai	21:30	SETC-UD
10	Senkottiah	19:00	SETC-UD
11	Bangalore	22:00	SETC-UD
12	Thiruthani	5:30, 10:42, 22:45	TNSTC
13	Tiruchirapalli	4:40, 6:09, 10:05, 21:57	TNSTC
14	Kumbakonam	6:32, 7:32, 9:28, 15:12, 16:40, 20:01	TNSTC
15	Vellore	5:55, 7:07, 8:40, 12:00, 13:00, 14:50, 15:25, 17:05	TNSTC
16	Tirupathi	21:15	TNSTC
17	Bangalore	7:25, 22:00	TNSTC	Cuddalore
18	Bangalore	9:30, 22:30	TNSTC	Tindivanam
19	Hosur	7:30, 8:10, 11:30, 17:40, 21:30, 22:15	TNSTC
20	Hogenakal	6:40, 13:00	TNSTC
21	Tirupattur	4:40, 13:20, 19:55	TNSTC
22	Kancheepuram	7:30, 11:25, 15:40, 20:12, 23:15	TNSTC
23	Salem	13:22, 20:38	TNSTC
24	Erode	8:30, 20:30	TNSTC
25	Tirupathi	9:00, 21:30, 22:00	PRTC
26	Velankanni	9:30	PRTC
27	Bangalore	12:15, 23:00	PRTC
28	Kumuli	17:00	PRTC
29	Mahe	17:30	PRTC
30	Nagercoil	18:35	PRTC
31	Tirupathi	21:30	APSRTC
32	Tirumala	22:00	APSRTC
33	Bangalore	8:30, 22:30	KSRTC – Airavat
34	Bangalore	9:30, 23:00	KSRTC – Rajahamsa

Train Timings from Puducherry

1.Chennai Egmore - Puducherry - Chennai Egmore Express - 16115/16116.
  Puducherry Departure: 5:35 AM, Chennai Egmore Arrival: 9:15 AM
  Chennai Egmore Departure: 6:10 PM, Puducherry Arrival: 10:00 PM. 
  Via: Villupuram, Melmaruvathur, Maduranthagam, Chengalpet, Tambaram.

2. Puducherry - Villupuram Passenger 
  Puducherry Departure: 8:05 AM, 4:00 PM, 7:35 PM. Villupuram Arrival: 8:50 AM, 4:50 PM, 8:25 PM.
  Villupuram Departure: 6:35 AM, 2:45 PM, 5:40 PM. Puducherry Arrival: 7:25 AM, 3:35 PM, 6:25 PM.

3. Tirupathi - Puducherry Passenger
  Tirupathi Departure: 4:25 AM, Puducherry Arrival:  1:15 PM
  Puducherry Departure: 1:35 PM, Tirupathu Arrival: 10:40 PM. 
  Via: Renigunta, Thiruthani, Arakonnam, Kancheepuram, Chengalpet, Maduranthagam, Melmaruvathur,   Tindivanam, Villupuram, Puducherry.

4. Chennai Egmore - Puducherry Passenger
Chennai Egmore Departure: 6:10 AM, Puducherry Arrival: 11:05 AM.
Puducherry Departure: 2:40 PM, Chennai Egmore Arrival: 7:30 PM. 
Via: Villupuram, Tindivanam, Melmaruvathur, Maduranthagam, Chengalpet, Tambaram.

5. Mangalore Central - Puducherry - Mangalore Central Express 16043/16044
 Puducherry Departure: 4:35 PM - Tuesday, Mangalore Arrival: 9:05 AM - Wednesday
 Mangalore Departure: 4:10 PM - Monday, Puducherry Arrival: 8:00 AM - Tuesday
 Via: Mahe, Kozhikode, Pallakad, Podanur, Erode, Salem, Vridachalam, Villupuram. 


6. Bhubaneshwar - Puducherry - Bhubaneshwar Superfast Express: 12897/12898 
 Puducherry Departure: 6:30 PM - Wednesday, Bhubaneshwar Arrival: 6:45 PM - Thursday
 Bhubaneshwar Departure: 12:00 - Tuesday, Puducherry Arrival: 1:35 PM - Wednesday
 Via:  Vijayawada, Gudur,  Chennai Egmore

7. Howrah Jn- Puducherry - Howrah Jn Superfast Express:  12867/12868
 Howrah Jn Departure: 11:30 PM - Sunday, Puducherry Arrival: 8:50 AM - Tuesday
 Puducherry Departure: 12:30 PM - Wednesday, Howrah Jn Arrival - 10:25 PM, Thursday
 Via: Karaghpur, Bhubaneshwar, Vijayawada, Nellore, Renigunta, Tirupathi, Katpadi, Vellore Cantt, Villupuram

8. NewDelhi - Puducherry - NewDelhi Superfast Express 22403/22404.
  NewDelhi Departure: 11:50 PM - Sunday, Puducherry Arrival: 6:45 PM - Tuesday.
 Puducherry Departure: 9:05 AM - Wednesday, NewDelhi Arrival: 4:00 AM - Friday.
 Via: Mathura,  Agra, Jhansi, Bhopal, Itarsi, Ballarshah, Warangal, Vijayawada, Gudur, Chennai Egmore.

9. Yeswantpur - Puducherry - Yeswantpur Garibrath Express: 12255/12256. 
   Yeswantpur Departure: 11:15 PM - Friday, Puducherry Arrival: 9:40 AM - Saturday.
    Puducherry Departure: 10:05 PM - Saturday, Yeswantpur Arrival: 8:40 AM - Sunday.
   Via: Hosur, Dharmapuri, Salem, Vridachalam, Villupuram.