LOVE of Z: 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

ICONS !

Over the last ten months we have been trying to create content in different media. We started with GIFs and then progressed to produce videos. We have finally started working on a long pending project, that is creating an Icon Set for city buses in Hyderabad, Visakhaptanam, Warangal and Vijayawada. He are some of the icons we created till now.

The 11Z Bus

The BSIV Bus

The 28Z Bus

Marcopolo Non A/C Bus

Marcopolo A/C Bus

Finally.. #NotMyMetro

All of the icons are up on Wikimedia Commons

Access them HERE

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

LOVEofZ at Krishna Pushkaralu

We went to KrishnaPushkaralu this year at Vijayawada to see if APSRTC learnt anything from special bus operations last year for GodavariMahaPushkaralu. Here is a snippet from what happened. We will be compiling and uploading more videos overtime.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Ultra Deluxe ?

A lot of my friends have been complaining about "unreasonable" fare hike in ultradeluxe buses. Lot of them acknowledge that this is because of the re-branding of deluxe as ultra deluxe. Having said that, many also complain that there has been no increase in comfort. To quote one of my friend "they just repainted the bus and changed the seats - they claim there are pushback seats, but they are uncomfortable". It is true that the "rebranding" exercise involved repainting and changing the earlier static seats to "pushback" seats with a 15° incline (super luxury and garuda buses have a higher incline angle) . I also agree this does not mean any increase in comfort. but why did they do that ? The corporation says it did so because it wanted to deliver a better "product". but, is that true?

The argument I am going to make might not make any sense but, that is the only argument that sounds plausible to me at this moment.

Initial investment on an Express bus and a Deluxe bus are similar . Express has 50+ seats and Deluxe has 30+ seats . Operating costs too are similar for both the brands . But, considering the little price difference between two brands, it does not make sense for the corporation to operate deluxe buses with such a low fare when that can add more seats and earn much more per a bus.

If that is possible, they could have done it . What is the reason they did not do it ?

On short distance routes where the corporation operates aggressively at frequencies less than 15 minutes, deluxe buses have been a hit. Express buses on such routes have not been received at the same scale. So, it makes sense for the corporation to operate deluxe buses given that passengers are looking for comfort.

A.P.S.R.T.C New ULTRA DELUXE Bus.

Now, coming back to the question of re-branding

If the corporation has to continue to operate deluxe buses for the reasons said before, it makes sense only if they increase the earnings per bus. They could not have increased the fares as it could have gone down wrong among the passengers. Now the easiest way to do it was to just re-brand.

A.P.S.R.T.C New ULTRA DELUXE Bus.

An Ultra Deluxe Bus Glowing in Defiyance...

There is a longer history to the attempts at re-branding deluxe buses. I will tell that story sometime else.

Re-branding was to increase earnings per bus and nothing else.

‪#‎apsrtc‬ ‪#‎rebrand‬ ‪#‎loveofz‬

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Garuda Plus Once Again

TSRTC Brand New Volvo Garudaplus Buses.

TSRTC's New GarudaPlus buses (VOLVO B9R 2016 Face lifted Model) waiting to head out for registration at JBS, Secunderabad.

Pictures are available on Wikimedia Commons here and here

Friday, March 11, 2016

Know your City Buses !

Branding of City Buses, How many know that there are six different brands/classes of city buses in Hyderabad ? All of them charge different fares for same distance and every bus has different livery and seats. Let us learn more in the post below.

City Ordinary

Popularly known as 'rtc buses' or 'ordinaries' these have the lowest fare of all services starting at Rs.6. These red and white buses halt at all bus stops in the route and are generally slower than other services . Most of the buses are built on Ashok Leyland's Viking standard floor(900mm) chassis by RTC's bus building unit at Miyapur. After serving 10 lakh kilometers, all buses from higher service categories are rebuilt or rebranded as City Ordinary.

A Re-Built City Ordinary bus

Metro Express
Popularly known as 'express buses' these have a minimum fare of Rs.7. These blue and white buses halt only at 'high demand' bus stops in the route and are generally faster than City Ordinary. Currently there are three types of metro express buses serving in the city. The new BS4 buses sport graphics similar to City Ordinary buses but are in 'dark blue' color. Then, there are "JnNURM" metro express buses which are in dark blue and white which are known for their middle door. Oldest of the lot are light blue buses which are slowly being converted into City Ordinaries. Infact, the picture of City Ordinary bus in this post is of one such rebuilt bus. After complaints of rattling bodies, JnNURM buses are being rebuilt by RTC's bus building unit at Miyapur.

A semi low floor Metro Express bus parked in Patancheru

A new Metro Express bus parked at Moosarambagh

Metro Deluxe
Popularly known as 'deluxe buses' or 'veera buses' these have a minimum fare of Rs.8. These buses, similar to Metro Express halt only at 'high demand' bus stops in the route and are generally operated on long distance routes.Metro Deluxe buses have more comfortable seats than 'Metro Express; and technically they have no standing capacity. Hence the difference in fares. Currently there are four types of Metro Deluxe buses serving in the city. The new BS4 buses sport graphics similar to City Ordinary buses but are in 'green' color with 'pink' lines. Then, there are TATA Marcopolo low floor buses procured with JnNURM funds.These are best known for their rear engines and deafening noise they make. Apart from there are the first lot of buses in dark which are slowly being converted into City Ordinaries and the first AC buses of the city which have been converted to be operated as 'Metro Deluxe'.

A BS4 Metro Deluxe

A low floor Metro Deluxe parked at Patancheru

City Sheetal

These were the first AC buses Hyderabad got under JnNURM scheme and have a minimum fare of Rs.15. These buses, similar to Metro Express halt only at 'high demand' bus stops in the route and are generally operated on long distance routes. These are the AirConditioned versions of JnNURM Metro Deluxe buses and are cursed for their not-so-great AC .
*Hyderabad earlier had A/C semi low floor buses branded "SeetalaHamsa" ..All of these were later sent to north east and south east districts of AndhraPradesh to be operated as "Meghamala" - inter city A/C buses . All of them have now been broughtback to hyderabad after converting them as non A/C buses to be operated as "Metro Deluxe"

File picture of a City Sheetal bus heading towards Malakpet

Metro Luxury

Youngest of the lot, Metro Luxury buses are Hyderabad's first JnNURM-2 buses.Similar to Metro Express buses these halt only at 'high demand' bus stops in the route and are generally operated on long distance routes. There are 83 VOLVO buses being operated in this brand and have proven to be successful on at least two of the four routes .

Metro Luxury bus parked at Lingampally during shift change

Pushpak

These are the most expensive buses to commute in the city and the routes and schedules are tailor made to suit passengers travelling to/from the international airport at shamshabad. Currently buses are being operated on five routes . These are the first and only city buses in city to be operated on outer ring road and PVNR ExpressWay.

PUSHPAK buses parked in Ranigunj depot (file picture)

all pictures (unless mentioned otherwise ) in this piece are licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License

available on Wikimedia Commons

Thursday, February 25, 2016

AMARAVATI... Flight on Road !!

2015 comes to an end & APSRTC has ended it with a New A/C Class variant. 31st December 2015 was the date when the corporation has Officially announced and in it's own tone, here are the words from the corporation...