BUS-VANDI PART 1 Bus is a masstransport system. In Tamilnadu recently the Chief Minister Mr Stalin hasintroduced zero charge tickets for women in the white board buses. Transport departmentis under Government now. For some time it was under different corporations. Thewhite board buses operate for short distance. Conductor will issue ticket,asking for destination and issue ticket after punching, with charge as Zero forwomen passengers. Womenpassenger is printed in the ticket.
Earlier duringChief Minister Late Jayalalitha had introduced restricted number of free travelsfor senior citizens. Then also ticket was issued with punching for distance. IDcard was issued. No such free ticketsother than student’s concession tickets in Kerala as far as my information go. Physically challenged, blind etc. may haveconcession/ free ticket. I recollect thedays my daughter travelled with two concession tickets from my residence toreach Palayam University and from there in the university bus to Kariyavattamuniversity extension campus for her post graduate studies. This is just a nostalgic write upabout Buses in Kerala, Tamilnadu and Bangalore about which I am familiar. Ihave touched Government, private, government undertaking and institution buses. First I am starting with Kerala which is myhome. 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 anenjoyable reading. Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan5-12-2021 1 Buses with engine in the front. During my primary schooldays in Kerala the Government buses had engine in the front and not with thebus, as we see now. Similar to today’s car engine, it was in the front. These engines operated with petrolas fuel. Some passengers mightvomit for the smell of petrol. They were asked to sit in the back seats so thatvomiting would not fall on others. This vomiting was more for women andchildren and very less with men. Women who had the habit of vomiting carried atablet called AVOMINand swallowed it which controlled vomiting for certain time. Onlytwo types of buses where there, ordinary and express. Express buses werecoloured green on the body and ordinary buses had red colour painting on thebody. The transport department worked directly under the Government. Buses hadstanding passengers since frequency was less. The emblem of Kerala Governmentconch and two elephants were drawn on the sides. Buses had only one entranceand no closure arrangement for door. Itwas used for both getting in and getting out. The seats near the entrance hadguard 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 helppassengers to bring down large boxes, holdall etc. Private busesoperated in interior routes and many had partial body fitting. We could seepassengers sitting in the back benches fitted to the frame in such buses. The body of thebuses and seats were fitted in a workshop at Pappanancode near Trivandrum. Nowthe depot is almost closed. 2 Buses with engine inside. During my middleschool days itself, old buses were disposed, some kept as spare, new buses withengine inside appeared. The front was almost flat. It was nicknamed on thosedays as Mookranchi (Buswithout nose) one entrance in the back for getting in and one at front was for gettingout appeared. These bus engines operated with diesel. Vomiting of passengersbecame less in these buses. Four types of busesappeared- shuttle, ordinary, mail and express. The mail bus went to postoffices en-route for collecting and giving mail bags. Shuttle operated for shortdistance and fare was less. Ordinary operated for some more distance, stopswere lesser than shuttle. Gradually fastpassenger appeared. The fast passengers were appeared with yellow stripes fromfront to back on the sides. The width of the stripes gradually increased,almost covered the body near the back side. Fast passengers had lesser stopsand fare was much more than ordinary. It was a practice for passengers totravel by ordinary buses to savemoney. Gradually thetransport system became an undertaking by the government. The FP had limitedstops. In the night, passengers would show hand to the FP buses, and bus simplypassed without stopping. Being night few driverswould stop the bus, if seats were there. But charging was more. Theminimum 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 Itwas a practice for students to collect used new bus tickets as a hobby. Ticketshad different colours and kept in a rack (A holder with clipping arrangementsfor various tickets). In Kerala ticket was not punched or torn in the end toindicate stoppage. It was marked with a tick in pencil. Half tickets werewritten and given from a special ticket book, which had perforation to tear.Acarbon copy remained in the book. It was twice the size of normal tickets. Thesystem of tickets in colour still continues in Kerala. For express buses alsoonly hand written tickets were given. Forreasons not known, from the beginning till date, a tong bell manually operatedby conductor is used to start and stop buses. The conductors get angry if the bellis operated by any passengers. Similarly, except at the desire of conductor,his seat was never permitted to occupy by passengers. 4 Private buses. Governmentundertaking buses were plied in state highways, and private buses in other interiorroutes. The porter system in buses gradually stopped. Passengers had to keep luggageoccupying space on the top of the bus by themselves and unload themselves. Mostif luggage were more intimated family to make arrangement to unload them at thebus stop. Some good conductors helped to unload by holding standing near bus.Luggage was charged. 5 Kili- cleaner WhileGovernment buses had only conductor and driver, private buses had an additionalstaff called Kili (cleaner). His job was canvassing passengers to the bus andhis position was in the entrance. Private buses were small earlier. I couldgather tax for the private buses were depended on the number of seats and hencethe smaller size. 6 Entrance door. Lateraddition was a door for entrance. To limit the crowd in government/ undertakingbuses conductors would close the door and say- come by next. It is almost empty. Thisannouncement was mostly to limit passengers. No nextbus immediately. 7 Do not sit on the bonnet. Do not sit near mirror Mostlythe 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 sidemirrors were used to observe buses coming from back, want to overtake etc. Passengerssitting near mirror obstructed his vision. 8. Reserved seats for women. Theconductor object any passenger sitting in the reserved seats for women, if atall only one lady is sitting in a row of seats, even for the aged. Some good conductors permitted to sit eldersif the seats were empty with warning, to give the row of seats to the ladies , if any entered. 9, Super-fast and deluxe buses. Superfasts as name indicate were drove with high speed, very limited stops. Deluxebuses operated in the express routes for long distance like Trivandrum- Kannur deluxe.Conductors and drivers changed in themiddle of trip after their duty was middle. After the appearing of superfast,fast passengers had lesser appreciation. While I was working in Trivandrum, I wentto my home in superfast, got down at Pandalam, and took auto to my residence. Icould go to my residence at home within 3 hours. Aftermy college education I left home on getting employment in 1964 June as ateacher in High school at Trikkariyur near Kothamangalam in a Fast passenger up to Kothamangalam. Superfastcame later. I will continue in next posting. -- 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/670188851.542850.1638722614365%40mail.yahoo.com.
