Redefining పల్లెవెలుగు

T.S.R.T.C never ceases to surprise us with it's innovative ideas & initiatives. Now there is One more from it. This time  the Innovation is not with any premium brands but with its entry level offering , the Pride of the Villages - "Palle Velugu/ పల్లెవెలుగు " . 

"పల్లెవెలుగు మిని "/ PalleVelugu Mini are expected to improve the OR & Fuel Efficiency(ofcourse to reduce Losses indirectly) in the Rural routes which have only 20-30 people  per trip.

పల్లెవెలుగు మిని

Earlier in July 2016, the corporation invited tenders for procurement of 136 No.s of fully built Mini Non AC Buses. Initially 50 No.s were approved in collaboration with TATA MOTORS.

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

Costing as much as 15.19L approx. per Unit,  T.S.R.T.C is bringing this 31 seater soon onto the roads.

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

Interior Seating.

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

TSRTC Brand New పల్లెవెలుగు మిని Bus

HAVE A HAPPY & SAFE JOURNEY..!!

Text : Ratnam & Revanth   

Pictures : © Revanth Chowdary

New Super Luxury fleet is Here !

T.S.R.T.C Logo

The last  bulk addition to Super Luxury fleet in the undivided corporation was in 2013. All of the buses that were introduced prior to this have now worn out and are in serious need of replacement. While APSRTC started  the replacements and flooded the depots with Super Luxuries, TSRTC was left behind. Catching up to APSRTC, TSRTC is finally going to launch its new fleet of Super Luxury buses on 05/05/2017. The new set is painted in pink and built on Eicher and AL chassis by BBU and Mungi. We hope these help TSRTC in capturing the peak summer market !

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

A.P.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

T.S.R.T.C New SUPER LUXURY Bus

HAVE A HAPPY & LUXURIOUS JOURNEY..!!

Text : Ratnam & Revanth
Pictures : © Revanth Chowdary

Vajra..Mobility Redefined

In an unprecedented move, TSRTC has set out to redefine short distance journeys in Telangana. Unlike the usual services where one had to go to the bus terminal to catch buses, these buses are targeted at customers looking for hassle free short distance journeys. TSRTC has branded this new service as Vajra and has given an apt tag line - Redefining Mobility. While we think this is a great idea, It remains to be seen if passengers will receive these as expected by the corporation. 

Vajra buses are based on Mahindra's COSMO 3.3 Liter BS-IV AC chassis built by MG Auto, Zahirabad.  In the second half of 2016, tenders were released for procurement of 100 No.s of fully built AC Mini Buses.  Of the above 60 Buses have already arrived and 40 Buses are yet to arrive.

The Bold front of Brand New వజ్ర A/C

The TSRTC Logo & BS-IV Stickering

Vajra... Mobility Redefined !!
వజ్ర... ప్రయాణానికి పునర్నిర్వచనం !!

for the techies.. here are few "details" of the bus.

DIMENSIONS

Wheel base : 4200 mm ; Overall length : 7900 mm ; Overall width : 2900 mm ; Overall height: 2800 mm

ENGINE

4 Cylinder- Inline, Common Rail Diesel injection, Turbo Charged Inter cooled

Max. Power : 115HP @2800 rpm

Max. Torque : 325 Nm @ 1400-2200 rpm

SUSPENSION 

Front : Semi elliptical leaf spring

Rear : Air suspension of M/s Wheels India Limited make

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

It has a Max Speed of 80kmph (Speed Limited) and is Fitted with ABS(Anti-Lock Braking System).

Emergency Exit

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

The Air conditioning system provided is of 25KW capacity of M/s Spheros Mothersons India Limited, and it is expected to be maintained at an Optimum Temperature between 22°C to 26°C for benefiting in the aspects of

                • Fuel Saving
                • Increasing the life of Vehicle Engine.                • Increasing the life of Air Conditioner component
                • Passenger comfort during Journey.

Fitted with Security Cameras, this newbie ensures Safety of Passengers. A separate Control room is dedicated at Bus Bhavan, Hyderabad to Monitor these Buses.

Security Camera & TV

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

The 60 Buses were alloted to the following depots :- 

 These New Buses will ply initially between Hyderabad ⇋ Warangal & Hyderabad ⇋ Nizamabad. To justify it's motive of "Service to Door Step", the corporation has assigned 150 Boarding points.   

Four routes have been selected for "Hyderabad ➯ Warangal" service with 100 Boarding points in Hyderabad.

• Saroornagar - Dilshukhnagar - Nagole X road - Uppal X road
• Mehdipatnam - Himayathnagar - RTC X road - Amberpet - Uppal X road 
• KPHB - Balanagar - Secunderabad - Tarnaka - Uppal X road
• AS Rao Nagar - ECIL - Habsiguda - Uppal X road

Three routes have been selected for "Warangal ➯ Hyderabad" service with 46 Boarding points in Warangal.

• Warangal - BS Kasibugga - Hanmakonda Chourastha - Kazipet
• Pochamma ground - Warangal BS - Hunter road - Juliewada - Kazipet
• Kishanpura - Gopalpuram - Vadepali Church - Excise Colony - Kazipet 

Three routes have been selected for "Hyderabad ➯ Nizamabad" service with 50 Boarding points in Hyderabad.

• LB Nagar - Kothapet - Nagole X road - Tarnaka - Sangeeth - Bowenpally PS
• KPHB - Balanagar - Shobhana - Bowenpally PS   
• Mehdipatnam - SR Nagar - Balanagar - Bowenpally PS

Three routes have been selected for "Nizamabad ➯ Hyderabad" service with 39 Boarding points at Nizamabad.

• RTO Office - Naagaram - Old Bus station - Poolang
• Arsapally - PLD Bus station - Railway Station - Poolang
• Mubarak nagar - Kanteswar - Subhashnagar - New Vinayak Nagar

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

Facilities Offered :- 

* Ergonomically designed passenger seats with adequate leg room and provides high degree of riding comfort with Air suspension.

* Complimentary Drinking Water bottles

* Well trained drivers for usage of Mobile App & Navigation System

* On-line real time bus tracking facility to the passengers through App

* Choice of convenient boarding points, dropping points with departure timings.

* Tickets are made available only with cashless online ticket booking through exclusively developed Mobile App.

* Fixed Fare of Rs.300/- per head for one journey, from anywhere to anywhere in HYDERABAD - WARANGAL & Rs.350/- in HYDERABAD - NIZAMABAD sectors.

*  Tickets can also be booked through TSRTC portal www.tsrtconline.in and at reservation counters of TSRTC & ATB agents.

* SMS Ticket will be sent to the passengers besides e-mail.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C Interior Seating.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C Interior Seating.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C Interior Seating.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C Interior Seating.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

TSRTC Brand New Vajra ( వజ్ర ) A/C.

             And Soon TSRTC realised from the ORs of the 1st Three months & came up with a new option of Booking Tickets. Passengers Boarding at the Designated Boarding points can book their tickets through the Tab available with the Driver. 

          For the passengers booking through App, a special discount of Rs. 25/- per booking is given for the 1st Four bookings w.e.f 05.08.2017. 

Vajra buses at the designated boarding point @ Suchithra Junction.

       As a Territorial Expansion... the New Vajras are soon going to Commute from Karimnagar & Godhavarikhani too...

Happy "Redefined" Journey..!!

Text : Ratnam & Revanth   

Pictures : © Revanth Chowdary

New buses for "Agency"

TSRTC and APSRTC combined have not more than 23000 buses. Remove the ones serving Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Warangal cities, there are about 18000 buses doing intercity and village services of which 10,000 buses are of ordinary class which connect villages with nearest towns. Even after covering 70% of road network in Hyderabad city, Telangana State Road Transport Corporation’s Greater Hyderabad zone struggles with huge transit deserts. This network is served by a *whopping* 3500 buses.

Now imagine connectivity to all of the villages. If Hyderabad is struggling to have proper service with 3500 buses how are all of the numerous villages in Telugu states connected with 10,000 buses. According to APSRTC and TSRTC there are more than 1000 villages in telugu states that are still not connected. For a village to be considered connected, it is enough to have just one bus a day.

Gandikota, a popular tourist destination just 15 km from Jammalamadugu, gets just one bus every three hours and sunday service is not guaranteed. Gandikota is so close to the town yet so far from accessing services in the town. This is still a better example but there are villages that still get just one bus a day.

If connectivity is this bad in the plains, what about the villages and numerous thandas in the “agency” areas of Visakhapatnam and Vijayanagaram districts. Unlike the villages in the plains connecting these places is a challenge. Though APSRTC has been trying to connect these places with Midi buses operating out of Srungavarapukota depot, there are still villages that need to be connected.

Also, the quality of service has fell down over the last decade with no new buses inducted into the fleet. All of the buses scrapped because of their age have only been replaced by used saptagiri express buses from tirumala - tirupati. Finally, there is a refreshing change. APSRTC, with funds from SC ST Subplan has purchased 20 new midi buses for serving the far flung villages in “agency” area. Branded Telugu Velugu, these are the first entry level ordinary buses in APSRTC with a single front windshield. As with all the other buses, the buses have been fitted with on board GPS decimating information via PIS at bus stand and app.

The new buses will ply from Paderu and Sileru to Bakuru, Jolaput, Chintapalli and Gudem among other Villages. These are places that are already connected by at least one bus a day. With introduction of these new buses, we only hope there are more buses to Villages that are still left unconnected.

CORONA - The New "Garuda"

Almost an year back when there was news that APSRTC was going to launch a new brand Krishnaveni and will use Corona buses for it, we were surprised. Many thought this will be a replacement/ rebranded version of Indra buses. Of the many products that Corona, a pune based company that claims to offer chassis body integration, only sleeper buses were successful. When this news came out, we thought APSRTC is trying to give sleepers a shot again. In fact, they did try buying sleeper buses with 2+1 berth arrangement but the transport department said no owing to safety concerns. A few months after this news, everyone almost forgot APSRTC was going to get Corona buses. Surprisingly, Corona had an update on its website claiming APSRTC has placed order for about 100 buses.

The last new buses were added to garuda fleet was in 2011 a few weeks before Garuda Plus buses were introduced. After the introduction of Amaravati buses in 2016, we were almost sure that Garuda is a dying brand and no more new buses will be added in this category. Most of the 11Z buses were getting scrapped and 29Z buses were struggling to serve even after major repairs. We thought this also made sense because no operator in telugu states was buying 12M dual axle buses any more. Multi axle buses had become the norm. APSRTC surprised everyone with adding 20 Corona buses to its fleet.

                

A.P.S.R.T.C Brand New CORONA Garuda.

After KingLong(Cerita), Volvo, AL - Luxura, Isuzu, it's the entry of "CORONA" into the Garuda Fleet. In Collaboration with "Deccan Auto" located in the Neighbour State's Capital Hyderabad, CORONA has delivered the First Batch of 20 Buses to the Corporation, Costing Approx. 65-70lakh each

                     

Alloted to the Core Depots of Vijayawada(VJA) & Autonagar(ATNR), these Brand New Beauties are Initially to be deployed on Vijayawada - Hyderabad ; Vijayawada - Bengaluru & Vijayawada - Chennai Routes.

APSRTC’s earlier attempts at using buses of brands other than Volvo in the  Garuda  fleet were not really successful. For passengers, Garuda meant Volvo and to be frank many referred to them as just Volvo buses rather than Garuda buses. Let us wait and watch how these buses perform and if passengers will accept these as Garudas.

 

A.P.S.R.T.C Brand New CORONA Garuda.

 

A.P.S.R.T.C Brand New CORONA Garuda.

A.P.S.R.T.C Corona Garuda of Vijayawada Depot

A.P.S.R.T.C Corona Garuda of Autonagar Depot

 Have a HAPPY & SAFE Journey..!!

Text by : Ratnam and Revanth  

Pictures by : © Revanth  Chowdary

E Pushpak

Gold Stone - BYD 's Electric Bus on trial with TSRTC Greater Hyderabad Zone

With  funds made available under National Mission on Electric Mobility (FAME), Major state transport undertakings are planning to try and switch at least a part of the fleet to cleaner electric fuel. Cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai are expected to add a few electric buses to their fleet. In fact, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)' board, which successfully tested a BYD electric bus 2 years ago has passed a resolution to buy 150 buses. These buses cost more than 2 crore a unit. Hence, citing lack of funds, BMTC has decided to ask for funding under the FAME scheme. It has to be seen how this process goes through. BYD, a Chinese company which earlier supplied an imported unit from China to be used in Bangalore for test, has now entered in to a partnership with Gold Stone, a Hyderabad based infrastructure company to assemble and supply the buses in Inida to bring down the costs. Gold Stone has now supplied its first bus assembled in India to Telangana State Road Transport Corporation - Greater Hyderabad Zone (TSRTC-GHZ) to test the bus.

The bus arrived in Hyderabad in the last week of February and was planned to be launched along with a larger lot of inter city buses. Although, owing to the MLC Election code which is in force, the idea of launching it with fanfare was dropped. We were surprised to see the bus serving as a Pushpak - a service dedicated to transport people to and from the Airport. A2 starts  at Jubilee Bus Stand and terminates at the Airport picking up passengers at Secretariat and  Mehedipatnam . This bus follows the routes 5K and 251 . 

More on this bus very soon !    

Pictures and Text by 

Revanth Chowdary