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Trivandrum originally had 15 Double Decker buses, serially numbered from DD-1 to 15. In 1977 or ’78, five of these were taken to Ernakulam, leaving only DD-1 to 10 at Trivandrum. Due to some reasons, these five DDs never ran on Ernakulam roads. Neither did they never return to Trivandrum. Their fate was to be scrapped. The DD # 1 to 10 continued to run on Trivandrum roads for few more years and were removed from the roads with the launch of the two new DDs (TR-555 & TR-666) during the Neelan era.
The 15 Double Decker buses, which the KSRTC originally had, were original British Leyland made with their body built at the Central Works, Trivandrum. These 15 buses were semi automatic and had no clutch. Since these buses were initially plying on the Trivandrum – Kanyakumari route (early 1960s), body design was made in such a way, so that the top would never touch the overhead canal that crosses the NH-47 at Villikkuri.
By mid 60s, these buses started running in Trivandrum City, in prime routes connecting East Fort with Peroorkada, Medical College, Thirumala etc and had circular service (both clockwise and anticlockwise) connecting Palayam, Beach, Airport, Valiyathura & East Fort).
Terraplane was another classic service of KSRTC during the mid 70s. These buses ran between Trivandrum & Ernakulam and had tickets similar to that of Indian Airlines. Local junky guys nick named these buses as “Thaara Plane”. Terraplane had wash rooms and the charge (one way) was Rs.25/- even in those days. One of the drivers was my neighbor (Babu) and he was a star of KSRTC – one of the very few drivers owning a two wheeler during those days ! It took only 4 hours to connect Trivandrum & Ernakulam. Whenever, the Terraplane was in workshop, ‘4000’ – a super deluxe bus used to run with the board “Substitute of Terraplane”. At a later stage, another terraplane connected Ernakulam & Calicut.
The fate was bad, as many of the KSRTC officials travelled freely & frequently in these buses with their passes and in due course, due to viability issues, these buses disappeared from Kerala roads!
Road Train was another concept that was launched in Trivandrum City having the first road train (RT-1) running between Peroorkada and East Fort. Later on, 9 or 11 more RTs were launched – making the number upto RT-10 or RT-12. These buses had two conductors. The “Engineless” second bus was connected to the first one with two rods (I don’t know the technical name!). The driver would listen to the bell of the first bus only and the conductor of the first bus used to listen to the bell signals of the trailing buses. After running in Trivandrum roads for almost 10 years, these road trains disappeared. May be the high rate of clutch damages might had led to this and the increase in traffic might be another reason.
If someone could trace a copy of the “Balavijanakosham” of Prabath Book House, colourful pictures of the Double Decker, Road Train & Terraplane could be seen – with a brief history.
In early 1980s, KSRTC introduced ten Tractor Trailers (TT 1 to 10) in the Trivandrum – Ernakulam sector & Trivandrum – Kanyakumari sector. They ran almost for one year and later on these buses were shifted to Trivandrum city and operated in the Medical College, Peroorkada and the Circular routes (bothways) connecting EF, Palayam, Beach & Airport. The ‘Tractor’ was that of Ashok Leyland and the ‘Trailer’ was by ‘Allwyn’ or ‘Mahindra’. May be in another 3 years, these buses also disappeared. Lack of proper maintenance might be the reason.
When the Eicher launched Mitsubishi mini buses (1985 -86), they gave ten buses to KSRTC at subsidized rate. These ran between Trivandrum & Ernakulam and were designated either as Super Express or Deluxe Express. It hardly took 3 hours and 15 (or a maximum of 3 hours & 30 minutes) for a trip from Trivandrum to Ernakulam, In two years, these buses were shifted to Trivandrum City. Eicher had an all India advertisement series (full or half page), having 10 pictures – one among them was an Eicher Mitsubishi on the Trivandrum – Ernakulam Highway.
Ashok Leyland launched its first vestibule bus on Chennai roads in 1987 or so and there was widespread publicity of these buses in Kerala too. However, it took almost 25 years for these buses to be a reality on Kerala roads. So happy that they are in Trivandrum now.
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[/IMG]Trivandrum To Have Double-deckers In Two Days..
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The most awaited Double-decker buses will run in Trivandrum in a couple of days time.
"One of the bus have come to Trivandrum bus stand. The bus will start its service in a couple of days time. Once the procedures for registration and permit is complete, the buses will start running in the city," said Antony, EDT of KSRTC.
The two buses were constructed at Mumbai. The route for the bus service has not been finalised yet. “Apart from services in Trivandrum, there might be a couple of them running at Kochi as well,” says Antony, EDT of KSRTC.
The bus is designed for a capacity of 65 to 79 passengers at a time. The passengers will be charged the normal fare. “The old buses have been withdrawn. The new buses with more number of seats and facilities will run on the road after the registration and other formalities are completed,” adds Antony.
“I feel they are trying to revive the memories of double deckers. The impact that this double decker is going to make is yet to be seen,” says Aswin, a citizen who witnessed the bus on one of the test drives.
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Auditorium @Museum Compound.........
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