Pranam Who cares for Kerala Bus?. The worst vehicle; careless whisper of the conductors; curvatures and corners taken at risk by the drivers; however my bus ride was during my college days STUDENT SPECIAL TO HOME AND COLLEGE. I do not remember having travelled by bus before or after till date. Kerala and Karnataka as well as Andhra bus rides I took for a ride and never after I boarded again. Karnataka bus to Ragavendra temple once I took by night and next day morning I did not get down but only was bundled out due to wreck of the body yesterday night kicks in the bus. In AP, along with us were cattles and shits of them apart from provisions and vegetables. Hell. Of Course in the USA I do travel with the $5 season ticket ,to Libraries catching almost empty comfortable busses hopping into trains connecting them . The longest route 22 from Sanjose town to Stanford took about 2 hrs sitting near the window watching over, buying my ticket (no conductors in the USA) that was a car trip. KR IRS 61221
On Sun, 5 Dec 2021 at 22:13, 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 < [email protected]> wrote: > *BUS-VANDI PART 1* > > Bus is a mass transport system. In Tamilnadu recently the Chief Minister > Mr Stalin has introduced zero charge tickets for women in the white board > buses. Transport department is under Government now. For some time it was > under different corporations. The white board buses operate for short > distance. Conductor will issue ticket, asking for destination and issue > ticket after punching, with charge as Zero for women passengers. *Women > passenger is printed in the ticket. * > > Earlier during Chief Minister Late Jayalalitha had introduced restricted > number of free travels for senior citizens. Then also ticket was issued > with punching for distance. ID card was issued. > > No such free tickets other than student’s concession tickets in Kerala as > far as my information go. Physically challenged, blind etc. may have > concession/ free ticket. > > I recollect the days my daughter travelled with two concession tickets > from my residence to reach Palayam University and from there in the > university bus to Kariyavattam university extension campus for her post > graduate studies. > > This is just a nostalgic write up about Buses in Kerala, Tamilnadu and > Bangalore about which I am familiar. I have touched Government, private, > government undertaking and institution buses. First I am starting with > Kerala which is my home. In Kerala the state transport is a corporation, a > Kerala Government undertaking. The state transport has a nick name in > Kerala- *Aana Vandi* (Bus like an elephant). Hope an enjoyable reading. > > Sincerely, > > Gopalakrishnan 5-12-2021 > > *1 Buses with engine in the front.* > > During my primary school days in Kerala the Government buses had engine in > the front and not with the bus, as we see now. Similar to today’s car > engine, it was in the front. These engines operated with petrol as fuel. Some > passengers might vomit for the smell of petrol. They were asked to sit in > the back seats so that vomiting would not fall on others. This vomiting was > more for women and children and very less with men. Women who had the habit > of vomiting carried a tablet called *AVOMIN and swallowed it which > controlled vomiting for certain time*. Only two types of buses where > there, ordinary and express. Express buses were coloured green on the body > and ordinary buses had red colour painting on the body. The transport > department worked directly under the Government. Buses had standing > passengers since frequency was less. The emblem of Kerala Government conch > and two elephants were drawn on the sides. Buses had only one entrance and > no closure arrangement for door. It was used for both getting in and > getting out. The seats near the entrance had guard handle to hold, while > the buses took turns, suddenly stopped. Buses had spare tyre kept on top > of the bus. To keep luggage there was ladder fitted at back. Many buses had > porter to help passengers to bring down large boxes, holdall etc. > > Private buses operated in interior routes and many had partial body > fitting. We could see passengers sitting in the back benches fitted to the > frame in such buses. > > The body of the buses and seats were fitted in a workshop at Pappanancode > near Trivandrum. Now the depot is almost closed. > > *2 Buses with engine inside.* > > During my middle school days itself, old buses were disposed, some kept as > spare, new buses with engine inside appeared. The front was almost flat. It > was nicknamed on those days as *Mookranchi (*Bus without nose) one > entrance in the back for getting in and one at front was for getting out > appeared. These bus engines operated with diesel. Vomiting of passengers > became less in these buses. > > Four types of buses appeared- shuttle, ordinary, mail and express. The > mail bus went to post offices en-route for collecting and giving mail bags. > Shuttle operated for short distance and fare was less. Ordinary operated > for some more distance, stops were lesser than shuttle. > > Gradually fast passenger appeared. The fast passengers were appeared with > yellow stripes from front to back on the sides. The width of the stripes > gradually increased, almost covered the body near the back side. Fast > passengers had lesser stops and fare was much more than ordinary. It was a > practice for passengers to travel by ordinary buses to save money. > > Gradually the transport system became an undertaking by the government. > The FP had limited stops. In the night, passengers would show hand to the > FP buses, and bus simply passed without stopping. > > Being night few drivers would stop the bus, if seats were there. But > charging was more. > > The minimum ticket in my student days was 10 paisa. Now as watched in the > TV news, minimum ticket is fixed as 8-00 in Kerala a few days back. > > *3. Colour Tickets* > > It was a practice for students to collect used new bus tickets as a hobby. > Tickets had different colours and kept in a rack (A holder with clipping > arrangements for various tickets). In Kerala ticket was not punched or torn > in the end to indicate stoppage. It was marked with a tick in pencil. Half > tickets were written and given from a special ticket book, which had > perforation to tear.A carbon copy remained in the book. It was twice the > size of normal tickets. The system of tickets in colour still continues in > Kerala. For express buses also only hand written tickets were given. > > For reasons not known, from the beginning till date, a tong bell manually > operated by conductor is used to start and stop buses. The conductors get > angry if the bell is operated by any passengers. Similarly, except at the > desire of conductor, his seat was never permitted to occupy by passengers. > > 4 *Private buses.* > > Government undertaking buses were plied in state highways, and private > buses in other interior routes. The porter system in buses gradually > stopped. Passengers had to keep luggage occupying space on the top of the > bus by themselves and unload themselves. Most if luggage were more > intimated family to make arrangement to unload them at the bus stop. Some > good conductors helped to unload by holding standing near bus. Luggage was > charged. > > 5 *Kili- cleaner* > > While Government buses had only conductor and driver, private buses had an > additional staff called Kili (cleaner). His job was canvassing passengers > to the bus and his position was in the entrance. Private buses were small > earlier. I could gather tax for the private buses were depended on the > number of seats and hence the smaller size. > > 6 *Entrance door. * > > Later addition was a door for entrance. To limit the crowd in government/ > undertaking buses conductors would close the door and say- *come by next. > It is almost empty. This announcement was mostly to limit passengers. No > next bus immediately.* > > 7 *Do not sit on the bonnet. Do not sit near mirror* > > Mostly the drivers insisted two conditions. One was not to sit on the > engine cover. Engine may get heated. Sometimes press more and not able to > open. The side mirrors were used to observe buses coming from back, want to > overtake etc. Passengers sitting near mirror obstructed his vision. > > *8. Reserved seats for women.* > > The conductor object any passenger sitting in the reserved seats for > women, if at all only one lady is sitting in a row of seats, even for the > aged. Some good conductors permitted to sit elders if the seats were > empty with warning, to give the row of seats to the ladies , if any > entered. > > *9, Super-fast and deluxe buses.* > > Super fasts as name indicate were drove with high speed, very limited > stops. Deluxe buses operated in the express routes for long distance like > Trivandrum- Kannur deluxe. Conductors and drivers changed in the middle > of trip after their duty was middle. After the appearing of superfast, fast > passengers had lesser appreciation. While I was working in Trivandrum, I > went to my home in superfast, got down at Pandalam, and took auto to my > residence. I could go to my residence at home within 3 hours. > > After my college education I left home on getting employment in 1964 June > as a teacher in High school at Trikkariyur near Kothamangalam in a Fast > passenger up to Kothamangalam. Superfast came later. > > *I will continue in next posting.* > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "iyer123" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/670188851.542850.1638722614365%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/670188851.542850.1638722614365%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZop4bRshC0nuCVQUyzjpy%2Bab7ME8ZfrzBFj4KOLd9wmr-g%40mail.gmail.com.
