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Transport in India in 2018: page 1 - buses (by Dick Gilbert)
Last updated 28 August 2024
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In November and December 2018 I made my third trip to the wonderful country of India and visited the southern states of Tamil Nadu (TN registrations), Kerala (KL) and Karnataka (KA). These three pages are a personal view of what I saw in the way of transport, divided into the sections listed above:
In the four years since my last visit I noticed many changes. New names included the joint enterprises of Maruti Suzuki, and Swaraj Mazda trucks and light commercial vehicles. Force vans had appeared along with SML light trucks and Bharatbenz trucks. Ashok, renowned for buses and heavy-duty transport, were now making tiny vans, while Maruti (normally associated with tractors and little wagons) were now building big trucks. It was all new to me, as was the little Mahindra Maxi Cab bus, seen on page 1.
Meanwhile the ubiquitous Ambassador saloon cars were becoming rarer, and examples in the cities could often be very tatty. Our coach for the tour was an Ashok Leyland with Prakash bodywork. This page continues the study of buses in south India (Kerala and Karnataka states) in 2018.
STATE OF KERALA (CONTINUED)
It was a surprise in the old colonial town of Ooty (short for Udhagamandalam!) to see several visitors from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, but it shows that the green TNSTC (Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation) buses were the long-distance members of the fleet. Here is TN39 N0162 with the word Express written on the screen, and it was just one of many that I saw in the area - all Ashok Leylands without fleet numbers.
In fact, so many TNSTC buses come into Ooty that it has its own bus station - the sign says Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Bus Stand Udhagamandalam. As well as the green inter-city buses there are a couple of red and silver Vehicles visible on the right. These come from another state, Karnataka to the north. They are operated by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, which has the same initials (KSRTC) as the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation. Confusing? Yes it is.
And here's a typical example of those smart red and silver Karnataka (KSRTC) buses seen running on the inter-state route between Ooty (Kerala) and Mysore (Karnataka) which passes through the Mudumalai tiger reserve, whose entrance is visible in the background. This is an Ashok Leyland BS-IV (KA09 F5342) with a body built by KMS Coach Builders of Bangalore. KSRTC has a huge fleet of these coaches (without fleet numbers, as far as I could tell) including Ashok Leylands, Tatas and Eichers.
STATE OF KANATAKA
This is another red and silver Karnataka (KSRTC) bus, on this occasion a Tata 1512c (KA19 F3314) working the inter-state route Madikeri (Karnataka) - Mysore (Karnataka) - Malappuram (Kerala).
I love this dark green and cream livery - it reminds me somehow of railways from pre-grouping Britain. Tata ATC248 (KL15 A1990) is seen in Mysore bus station and belongs to KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation). It is the only bus I saw in these colours and I can only tell you that signs on the front said that it was based at KKD (which I assume is Kozhikode, a coastal city in Kerala) and that it is the Kozhikode - Bangalore Super Express.
This Volvo B7RLE (KA09 F4425) is a Mysore city bus operated by KSRTC Urban division. I note that these are sometimes described locally as old buses.
On a spectacular roundabout in Mysore city centre is KSRTC Ashok Leyland KA09 F5047 on route 116.
This was my favourite livery of the trip, again reminding me of British trains - in this case the blood and custard carriage colours of the 1950s. In fact this is the livery used by the express buses of KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation), variously displayed as Fast Passenger, Super Fast, Special Service or LFSP which means Limited Stop Fast Passenger. Some are also marked Inter State. Apparently the livery originates from the red and yellow colours of Chundan Vallam, Keralan Snake Boats which are used for racing. The buses operate non-air-conditioned services on intercity routes with 3+2 seating.
This is an Ashok Leyland - resting in Mysore before its return journey to Kerala - probably from the RPC series. Identical RPE312 heading for Thrissur was parked here the following day. Other prefixes seen in these colours included ATA, ATC, ATK, RPA, RPC, RPK, RPM, RSA and RSC. Some were made by Eicher. I did also spot a couple wearing AT fleet numbers, for example AT331 (KL15 A2229) and AT339 (KL15 A2237) which suggests that the fleet numbers and licence plates run in sequence.
You don't expect to see an unusual vehicle like this, and then see it again the next day! But I did. This is service vehicle KA09 F2681 (possibly an Ashok Leyland) with quite a short wheelbase. I suppose it belongs to the Mysore depot of KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) and I guess it was once a bus.
Top of the range in the KSRTC (Karnataka) fleet would seem to be these gold Volvo B9R 3-axle coaches (I love 3 axles!). This is the Flybus service operating between Bangalore airport and Mysore, with other destinations being added. Here is one pulling into Mysore bus station. Most of these glamorous Volvos were inscribed govt vehicle, including some white ones. There were also some 2-axle white KSRTC coaches, often marked Executive, Ultra Deluxe or Rajahamsa.
I saw a couple of these little fellows. Originally designed as the 4x4 Tempo Matador in Germany from 1949 (in earlier versions), they were built under licence in India by Bajaj Tempo Motors (which later became Force Motors) until 2000. I think this is a Matador F207, a model commonly used as a school bus.
This Ashok Leyland (KA09 F3382) seen in Mysore is from the Karnataka KSRTC fleet and the lack of a roof rack suggests that it's a bus used on local routes. I saw quite a lot of buses in this livery, both Leylands and Tatas, all in the KA09 to KA10 registration range. The body is by KMS Coach Builders of Bangalore.
Now we are approaching Bangalore and this is a KSRTC Ashok Leyland Viking (KA57 F3755) in a livery that I only saw in that city.
Also near Banglaore was this Eicher (KA13 F2292) of KSRTC wearing the inscription Karnataka Sarige on the side, which simply means Karnataka Transport. It doesn't have a roof rack, but you will note that there is luggage tied through the windows onto the roof! We saw dozens - maybe hundreds - of these on the road from Mysore to Bangalore, Eichers, Tatas and Leylands.
On the 275 Expressway heading into Bangalore we suddenly started to see empty Ashok Leyland buses marked TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR. They all wore the same livery, all were registered in Karnataka (like this one KA42 A8631) but none of them were Toyotas! Toyota Kirloskar is based at Bidadi, just alongside the Expressway. See also the smaller buses below...
Also driving down the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway in large numbers were these SML minibuses in the same Toyota livery as the Ashok Leylands, wearing the inscriptions TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR or TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR AUTO PARTS or TOYOTA BOSHOKU AUTOMOTIVE INDIA. This is KA01 AH5851 being chased by a truck which looks like a Chinese King Long, but I could be mistaken. I can only assume that this torrent of empty buses were deliveries of new vehicles wearing temporary adverts. But what have they got # to do with Toyota?
I told you I can't resist 3-axle vehicles! This Volvo B9R (KA01 AB154) was operated by Kallada Tours and Travels of Madiwala, Bangalore. They provide services all over southern India.
This Ashok Leyland (KA01 FA208) is operated by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and is running on route 226N. The fleet also has Volvos and Tatas. The bodywork is by KMS Coach Builders of Bangalore.
Also in Bangalore was this BMTC Ashok Leyland (KA57 F1265) on route 228B with bodywork (again!) by KMS Coach Builders of Bangalore.
Finally here's another BMTC Ashok Leyland in Bangalore (KA01 F4700) on route 401M. These green ones seemed to be working mostly out towards the airport and all wore the name Suvarna on the side. Suvarna is a sanskrit word meaning good colour or good complexion.
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