Volvo Buses have changed the way people travel today. A big boon to travelers in todays times is online booking for Bus. There are couple of websites like Redbus and Ticketvala which give you the comfort of booking bus tickets from home/office but in the end the traveling experience is hampered by the provider by not following the timings or by shifting seats or impolite staff etc.
After paying a premium amount for booking the last thing the traveler wants is delay in starting thereby delay in reaching. Also, some travels don’t even bother to provide a water bottle for a volvo service after charging as much as Rs 2000 or their ACs are defunct or seats are uncomfortable or blankets not being available. In the end the customer is at the mercy of the provider. In one example the ticket holder was not even picked up by Omer Travels even after purchasing a valid ticket from redbus. With private operators that is the problem, the traveler is at his mercy.
Government service is not very upto the mark in this segment. But in many aspects the government service is a little better than the private ones. A big example is KSRTC run "Airavath". They are mostly on time, provide good service, and people like them. I myself have used their service and have been more than satisfied while traveling Bangalore-Hyderabad, and Hyderabad-Hubli.
Recently, APSRTC the worlds largest fleet of busses have started online booking. I was in Pune last week and had to take a bus to Hyderabad. I thought of checking google for online bus tickets and had redbus, ticketvala, yatra, and all the agents. To my surprise I hit upon a news item that APSRTC had started online booking ( https://apsrtc.in). I was on it the next minute all excited. I had traveled on APSRTC once long ago and had a pretty satisfactory experience. Also, I knew that I would pay a reasonable amount (in this recessionary times I am a little conscious on travel spends, in tune with my company policy). The User Interface for registration was simple and I was able to log in.
But wait, you can book tickets only from 6.00 AM till 6.00 PM. Also, the server kept throwing a message "Server is busy, please try later". Same is the problem with KSRTC, looks like they don’t do enough stress testing on their servers. IRCTC beats all in this regard. Anyway, luckily I got into the search page. I typed in from "Pune" to "Hyderabad", Result From and to destinations not found. I said what the heck. Are these guys testing or is it gone live. Tried with a "P" in from and "H" in to. Boy, got the places. A big list. Now Pune has at least 4 names listed in the from list and Hyderabad has an equal number. Which one do I select. I tried Pune Jahangir Hospital and HHyderabad (that’s how it was there in the list) and no results. Now I selected "Pune" and "Hyd MGBS" and there you go you have a list of buses which are available. I selected "Garuda" which is the Volvo service and I see three services.
Boy aint I lucky or is it just the good feeling of using a new website to book your ticket. Mind you these buses are always full if you are to go to a local agent. I see a few seats which are free. I immidiately booked, booking was fast and I was able to take a print out of the ticket. Man o Man am happy. But wait a minute, where does the bus come in Pune. No mention, Jahangir Hospital, Parihaar Chowk, Hadapsar...... keep figuring out. There is no contact information present on the ticket. How do I know where to get the bus from. Ok so this is a problem. So what do I do. I remember booking APSRTC tickets from an agent and he really helped me reach the pickup point. Boy this is no pick up point, this is called Mobus Court, an uneven stinky old building with loads of dust and busses all around parked haphazardly. Anyway I keep hopping here and there and locate my bus. Man thats what I like about government service, it has a board in from with the service number "1094-Mumbai Hyderabad". I go to the conductor, show him my ticket he checks it , checks my id proof and I’m in. This was so good. I liked it. Enter bus and it looks to be at least seven to eight or maybe ten years old. No shin support on seats but no foul smell, surroundings are clean, the AC works fine, the blankets don’t smell, and hey the conductor gave me a 1 ltr Aquafina waterbottle, all this for Rs 647. I’ve been on a Omer and a Sahara paying 1500 to 2000 and they were like . crap. The journey was fine no squeaks or noises, bus stopped at ten thirty for dinner, only 30 minutes and we were in hyderabad at 7.00 AM. Now that is timing. A good experience.
The bus may lack new comforts in the new B9R coaches or the ones in Benz or a MAN but it’s fine for a frequent traveler. A few caution points, the lack of contact information can be a big worry if you don’t know where the bus is to leave from. I have written to the support on the website so would have to see if they are going to do something on it. All in all this is a very good effort from a government organization and given the number of people who travel frequently this service is a saving grace.