I traveled by bus between the sector Mumbai - hyderabad last time on 27 Oct. My preference was to GARUDA services because of reliability on time and quality. I booked my ticket from Hyderabad only for the journey (Dadar - Hyderabad Service no. 1094 04:30PM departure and arrival 06:00AM on dated 26th Oct)
Firstly, After booking my ticket nobody was able to tell me that where I have to catch the bus in mumbai. I tried many APSRTC official no.s and booking agents no., They circulated me like paper in government department. Fortunately by Ticketvala.com I came to know the details about the bus pick-up points. APSRTC staff itself doesn't know where bus goes and come from out of the state.
Secondly, the bus was late by three hrs behind the schedule arrival because of so many reasons such as:
- Stopping like city bus at every stop to collect passengers for shorter route who are not having ticket.
- Unnecessary and undeclared stoppage in Pune for more than one hour (I was told that this bus is directly from mumbai to hyd and won't stop in Pune). It took one hour stop in pune on travel agents request as their customers were on the way.
- After dinner break at Dhaba, it again waited half an hour in mid of the way for some more passengers, sent by travel agents of pune through small taxis.
- There was no such traffic; other operators buses were flying on the road better than Garuda.
- They promised arrival time 6:00 AM which delayed by three hours, which can not because of traffic jam, if there is not big hurdle.
Thirdly, the most important part of travel THE BUS also known as VOLVO maintained by GARUDA.
A) TV didn't work during the service. They said its not in working condition even music can't be played.
B) Water bottles were given after 5 hours of journey starting (after Pune)
C) AC didn’t work. Trust me we were sweating in the bus. They said its because of Mumbai's weather but temperature didn't come down till Pune also (Surprisingly after passing from cold location like Lonavala). After sometime when passenger shouted on driver, they checked that AC was having some problem in pipes and all. It was a nightmare to travel in a closed bus, no windows and the AC doesn’t work.
The temperature inside the bus (36 degree, min 25 degree) was higher than the temperature outside the bus.
D) Reading lights didn’t work
E) I asked driver for complaint book, he tried to escape from it. But I insisted to write the complaint so that at least official can be informed formally also about these issues.
Complaint No.: AO/363410
Service No.: 1094 dated on 26 Oct 04:30PM from Dadar (E) to Hyd
Bus No.: AP 11 Z 3982
Sirs, this is not the first time it has happened. Not a single passenger was satisfied with such service. Please image the bus of the passenger with no entertainment, sitting without AC in closed door and no official to listen and charged comparatively with private operators with all services (At least AC and Video).
GARUDA is a flagship travel services which APSRTC provide to its customers. I don’t think you people understand the value and appreciate it. APSRTC thinks once u buy, get the pictures taken from Chief minister or transport minister the job is over. Any piece of metal unless it has been maintained well it cannot be run for long period of time. You have invested in volvo buses each costing 50lacs and unless APSRTC doesn’t invest in maintenance very soon the status will be just a piece of junk and its sad that and don’t even realize the value of it. That’s why Volvo has special packages on maintenance. APSRTC must get in to maintenance contracts to enhance the customer experience and increase the life of the asset. No wonder with poor focus, lack of commitment from employees, huge detoriating of assets, APSRTC is making losses.
I had a terrible experience and I only hope the services get improved and APSRTC makes money and enhance customer delight.
Warm Regards,
Deepak Agrawal
[email protected]
Complaint No.: AO/363410
Service No.: 1094 dated on 26 Oct 04:30PM from Dadar (E) to Hyd
Bus No.: AP 11 Z 3982
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