KPN Travels

Bangalore

I had the worst travel experience of my life time on way to Udumalpet from Bangalore.I had previous experiences of Bed bugs in KPN Travels. I always detested boarding the KPN bus due to fear of BED BUGS and worst customer service.

But due to some last minute plans, had to travel by KPN on the fateful day.

I booked a ticket on the Munnar bus on the 10th of Aug for a Bangalore - Udumalpet trip.

I arrived 20 minutes earlier than the departure time and to my astonishment was told that it will take another 1hr 30minutes for the bus to start.(Yes, boss, its true, all their bus start very late owing to cargo loading).

After a clean 1hr 45 minute wait, the bus arrived. I think it was KPN’s first bus. Iam sure it was around 10 years old and its nauseating inside.(The smell / the dirty linens on the seat )

I was on seat # 4 (if I remember correctly). Immediately after sitting on the seat, I felt something crawling all over my body. My Itching saga began then which was to last for another 7-8 hours.

Under my microscopic viewing of the seat, I could see around 10-15 bed bugs having their day out.

By the time I reached Hosur, my whole back had swollen up. I got down at Hosur and complained to the driver and another guy (alternate driver I believe). To my surprise, they told me that they cant help it and that he cleaned the bus just before the journey and I should not complain at all.

The inside of the bus looked like as if it was ages before anyone had even tried dusting the dirt  on it.

By the time I reached Krishnagiri, I had company ( there were 6-7 people with the same complaint and the driver duo had the most unprofessional way of handling this. They told us that we had to complain to the Head office and gave us a mobile number.

We called the number and no one would pick that up.

I was the worst affected and I could no longer take the bed bugs heads on. So I went to the driver’s cabin and requested the driver combo to sleep on the alternate driver’s bed( just back of the driver seat). After lot of negotiation I was given permission to the coveted seat.

I sighed a relief that I can atleast sleep in peace for the rest of the journey.

But, remember, it was the fateful day. 10 minutes on this and It started itching terribly. There were big bed bugs all over this bed. I screamed and ran to my original seat.

I was helpless and literally cursed the owner of KPN for this night for  extracting a heavy amount from me for the ticket and providing the worst service.

I could not sleep for the rest of the night and waited for what seemed an endless night to get over.

I dont want to elaborate the rest of the journey where I spent most part of the journey cursing KPN, as I could not do anything else.The ordinary state transport system had better / decent facilities.

The bus reached Udumalpet  around 8.00 AM and I was the happiest myself  again after getting down there.

I saw a strange thing happening there in Udumalpet.

Remeber, it was the Munnar bus. All the Munnar passengers(around 10) who too had a tough time combating the bed bugs, were asked to get down and board a maxi cab which was arranged by KPN.

These guys at KPN are sure brainier. They have cost reduction strategies to the core. Finding only 10 ppl to Munnar on the bus, they chose to send them from Udumalpet in a maxi cab rather than plying the bus for the whole journey. What a strategy.

Anyways, I had got down and I could only pity the guys going to Munnar on that maxi cab which was from outside, a piece of Scrap.

Now, what goes wrong at KPN?

1. The buses are stuffed with cargo all over (On top and bottom)and carrying passengers seem to be a secondary objective rather than the primary one.

Result: The cargo’s whcih are usually stored in poorly lit areas untill they are on board the bus are already infested with all sort of pests and once inside the bus move into the passenger area.

This will not be acknowledged by the crew or KPN management.

1. To my knowledge, there is no team which is responsible for cleaning the KPN bus. It is the driver’s duty to do that and none of the drivers would do that. They just dust the seats with their towel and finish their duty. What is required is a thorough air blow on all the seats, if not after each journey atleast once in a week. They can use some pest contol agency.

KPN can enter into an AMC with any of these pest control agency and they would do a wonder ful job.

1. The driver and staff:

This is sure a sore point at KPN. The guys at the top now have shown that they cannot manage a size as big as this.They were good when they were small, not now. The drivers and the staff at all booking center’s look like goondas. especially the one’s in the booking counters. they work as if they are offering the public free service.

They need a professional management in place and need to come out of the family clutches.

Hire experts on travel and fleet management and the owners please go rest .

You had built a good business and dont ruin the reputation now.

1. The quality of the buses:

Yes, KPN has lot of volvo’s and latest tech buses. But what is the use if you are not going to maintain them properly.Please do the homework. Look at ABT who is fast catching up.

I think ABT will soon overtake these guys in customer satisfaction and KPN will become a second choice or the last choice bus if the same situation prevails. IF only ABT plys in all KPN routes, it would then be an excellent competition and I’m sure ABT will win heads down.

1. The Price:

Its priced at a premium these days in comparison with other travel operators (I donno for what reason). In fact, they should price themselves for a discount for the inferior quality services they offer.

1. Customer satisfaction:(No customer complaint / redressal forum):

Seems to be on the least important thing for KPN. Otherwise, they would have a customer feedback form or customer complaint form or a customer complaint phone number available. But you search the entire network of KPN, you will not get one.

I had lodged a complaint a year back on my then trip to Kumbakonam on their website. But I am yet to get an acknowledgement for that, leave alone response.

My sincere advice:

PLEASE AVOID KPN AT ALL COSTS.