This bus looks brand new right ?
What if I told you it is actually seven years old
and it used to look like this ?
When new buses are purchased, it is expected they will serve for about 10 lakh kilometers. However, thanks to road conditions and minor accidents - many buses cannot make it past half way. The windows start rattling, flooring is broken and exteriors look like they will fall off anytime. Now, this does not mean they have lived their life and deserve to be scrapped. Many buses still have it in them to continue serving for a few more years. But how can they do it looking like ugly boxes from 1920.
Enter bus “Re-Build”. If you don’t know already, many buses we use still are built in house by the corporation, sometimes by private coach builders. Like I said, many of these buses go through a lot and need some attention to increase their life. Old buses are often examined for mechanical problems and assessed for what is left of them. If the corporation believes the buses can continue to serve, they are sent for complete overhaul / rebuilding.
Until recently, most of the rebuilding work was taken up at the corporations’ in house zonal workshops. Zonal workshops carry out major repairs required and stabilize the chassis before a new body is built. TSRTC has zonal workshops at Uppal and Karimnagar where as APSRTC has them at Nellore, Kadapa, Vijayawada and Vizianagaram. Most zonal workshops use frames from scrapped buses and often source parts from other buses to put together a new body. While it might look like picking up scraps for nothing, we believe that is of no shame for a corporation that is looking to save some cash every minute.
While Zonal workshops get the job done, rebuilt buses return to being rattling old boxes after less than 5 lakh kilometers on road. To solve this and build better buses, the corporation turned to their own body building unit (bus body works, bbu) in Miyapur. BBU started off with rebuilding last gen blue Metro Express buses. Following the success of rebuilding city buses, TSRTC is getting most of its old super luxury buses rebuilt at BBU. After a drop in new chassis procurement, BBU also rebuilt JnNURM metro express buses for Hyderabad. Meanwhile, APSRTC upgraded its Zonal workshops to build BBU quality bodies on old buses. As procurement of new super luxury buses increased, both TSRTC and APSRTC increased the rate of rebuilding old buses as Pallevelugu - entry level service in rural areas.
Believe, you can be anything. What if you are an old super luxury, What if the city folks dont want your services anymore. You can always come back home, be with your buddies while supporting the people who need you most. Should you ask for more ? Following are a few pictures of rebuilt Super Luxury buses from Adilabad and Nirmal.
Love or hate the transformation, let us know.
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