VANDI- BUS PART2 CONTINUING FROMPART 1
10 Double Decker Trivandrum city had double decker buses in specificroutes. They could not move with more speed. But it was attraction in city. Tourists cameto Trivandrum were specific to travel by upper deck. These buses had only oneconductor, passengers travelling in upper deck had to take ticket and go toupper deck and come down by steps, andstand visible to conductor for getting down. If some passenger woke up late fromseat , he had to get down in the next stop only. All drivers could not drivethese buses. Those who drove the bus hadspecial allowance. Ticket fare was same as in other city buses. For easygetting down from bus frequent travellers occupied bottom seats. Standing waslimited. The buses arenot running now in Trivandrum. Probably they became very old. 11. Airconditioned buses. Air-conditioned buses introduced in city were aimed at foreigners. Long routebuses also came with air conditioning. This replaced earlier deluxe buses. Long route express buses operated fromTrivandrum airport to distant places at one time. Now no such buses are seen inAirport. 12 Interstatebuses On those days interstate buses were operated between Palghat and Coimbatore, shenkotta and Quilon andbetween Trivandrum and Nagerkovil. Interstate buses to otherstates and other destinations in Tamilnadu were introduced later. The interstate buses were operated in 1:1 ratio.In practice if ten buses operated by Tamilnadu, another ten were operated byKerala. Kerala buses had more speed though both were fast passengers and time difference was about 40minutes more was required for Tamilnadu buses in the Trivandrum- Nagerkovilroute on those days. Now it is reduced to about 10-15 minutes. While I was in Tutucorin, I came home by Quilon toTutucorin express, on it’s return journey. 13. Uniform and,identification Khaki is the uniform till date for conductors anddrivers in Kerala. A conductor is more identified by his ticket rack in hand.Responsibility of the bus remained with the conductor. Earlier when wheelpunctured, driver and conductor together changed it. Nowadays mobile work shop iscalled for all sort of repairs for Government undertaking buses. Passengers aresent by another bus in the route with some ticket information. Passenger who enjoyed a window seat may have to stand in thenew bus. If at all apassenger had reserved a seat- the same condition to him also. 14. Ticketreservation For express, Super-fast and FP services reservationwas there from important bus stations. Reserved passengers had to wait well inadvance in the station. 15. Couponsystem. Important stations had coupon system by paying smallamount Rs 10-00 or so. Coupon was issued for a bus and was valid for that busonly; For next bus another coupon had to be taken. The passengers waiting for abus if not reserved would take coupon. They were given priority in getting in.Coupon passengers mostly got a seat. 16. Checkinginspectors Conductors were promoted to checking inspectors aftercertain years of service. Checking inspectors were /are more rigid in Kerala.Passengers had to keep ticket till the end of journey. If anyone misplaced ticketsomewhere, he had to take another ticket. Half tickets were checkedasking them the standard they were studying in school. Small children were alsoasked the standard in which they study, passed by exam etc. This avoidedpassengers not taking tickets for small children, taking half ticket forchildren above 12 years etc. Sometimesconductors were warned for not clearly checking. Nowadays such incidents are veryvery rare. Smart children nowadays tell parents- Make sure ticket is taken for me 17 Private buses. Though private buses generally operated in interiorroutes, in certain areas they operated in main routes also. Especially in NorthKerala even now private buses operate in main routes. There are more privatebuses. The same private company has dozens of buses. Buses are checked in thenights and only no problem buses areoperated in routes. Present day private buses are very comfortable,operate frequently and there is not much competition. Rarely they run with morespeed. In Bus stand they have employees to direct passengers to the correctbus. I had been in Calicut for 2.5 years in 1996’s, therecity services are operated by private buses. They were more punctual. Many mainroutes also are operated by private buses there. In Malappuram, Kannur, Trichur and Ernakulam also the same is thecase. Private bus staff behavior is superior to GU buses. Present day staff inGU buses are also very good and soft natured. Private buses issued either printed ticket orwritten ticket. In city services mostly printed ticket. 18 Aninteresting incident During 1979’ I was working at Nagerkovil. After cominghome with family, I had to return to Nagerkovil. On those days autos were notthere in my home. I was waiting in themorning for a local bus. Buses werespeeding with full of passengers. Suddenly a bus stopped about 50feet away, and my wife noted, the conductor calling after getting down from thebus. We hurriedly walked to bus. Conductor accommodated my wife and daughter inhis seat and son, in a near seat asking others to adjust a little. He smiledand asked- Did you not recognized me? Ismiled. He himself introduced-I am Varghese from Chengannur. Now Iunderstood. I expressed sorry for not recognizing him. He was my college mate. Hehad become well built. We had a brief talk for five minutes, by the time wereached Pandalam. He finally remarked – Do not forget next time when you meetme in any bus . He toldsmiling at my wife- We had sat in the same bench in college and studied.. That wassufficient. My wife was talking to mefor some time only about not recognizing him, while he recognized me (standing in the runningbus_) 19. Malayalam film-Ordinary Ordinary is a success filmrelased a few years back about bus services in hill station and life ofconductors and drivers, acted by Bijumenon as driver and Kunchako Boban as conductor.There are many more films like Varavelppu acted by Mohanlal and Revathi(A touching film) , Vamanapuram bus routeacted by Mohanlal and Lakshmi Gopalswamy etc. 20 Touristbuses. Now well-equipped tourist buses are there, mostly airconditioned for tourist services. For marriages tourist buses are operated morenow than cars. A number of tourist buses are there, one excel another,comparatively with moderate charges. In Training center at Trivandrum, traineeswere sent for one tour after basic training.Two lecturers had to go controllingthe trip. While in Jabalpur I had an opportunity to go to Rajasthan after E10 B basic training. 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