I was busy observing the Parivartan bus and I noticed an activity near the entry (South Gate). A brand new semi luxury on the route Sakoli-Aurangabad entered. She was really a queen for the moment at the scene. A rare look of MH-12/EF series bus in Nagpur and she was really beautiful have decided to follow her. I went all the way to PF 2 where it was parked. I had a closer look.
I went inside and the conductor was courteous enough to allow me have the photograph from inside. The arrangement was 2x2 and was quite comfortable. The leg room was ample as it is a common feature in these Semi Luxury buses. No push back so no reduction in leg room.
I was eager to compare this with an old one from Aurangabad. This was Nagpur-Brahmapuri bus.
Does it have the proper patronage on this rural route? Instead, these Semi luxuries should run between Nagpur and Amaravati/Akola/Chandrapur/Yavatmal. These are the routes earlier captured by the private luxury buses but in the recent years the private operators failed to maintain the standards of their fleet and started losing again to ST. It is observed that ST failed to grab this opportunity too.
And time comes when the WARI bus entered the stand and was parked on PF 17.
This is the bus with the highest capacity. It carries 66 passengers seating and a few standees. It is 12 m long bus.The intentions behind manufacturing these units were to clear the festive season rush or a short distance rural route which are heavily patronaged. Few such units are manufactured at Aurangabad W/S. See the length of this bus.
The irony is this bus at present plies between Ramtek and Pandharkawada. A distance of about 220 odd kms. The leg room inside was lesser than that of regular ST buses and one can imagine the woes of the direct passengers between the two towns. A poor thinking and planning on the part of MSRTC.
Chandrapur-Nagpur super are my attraction since childhood. I had a strong emotional bond with these buses. I spotted one such bus near the depot entrance.
The bus started from Chandrapur at 06.15 as Urjanagar- Nagpur. (Urjanagar is the Super Thermal Power Station in Chandrapur.) This used to be a timing for the Semi luxury bus of Chandrapur depot but for last five to six years this was made a regular express bus timing. The conductor told me that it is returning back with 11.00 a.m. timing to Chandrapur. This series (MH-40/8501 to MH-40/8510) of buses impressed me the most with their looks and performance. I had a 2 hour 50 minutes run in MH-40/8510 to cover 153 kms between Nagpur and Chandrapur.
I had decided to retire from the bus fanning on that day and while returning back I saw this bus parked on PF 20.
Katol-Aheri is a 350 odd kms route and this old bus plying on that route. Definitely this is not a regular link. The regular links are good, new buses and I witnessed few of the Leylands that were in Aheri depot plying on this route. (MH-20/D86XX series). This bus really looks very poor as far as Aheri depot standards are considered.The paint job of the front grill added to the grim look.
So quits for the day. Next weekend I will be in Mumbai and a lot of rail fanning and other posts will follow.
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