GARUDA - A dream ride

When people are getting more familiar with private operators for their day to day activities, bringing up government as one of the competitors is a huge task and I think AP Government is doing it in style. When there are already hoard of buses operating between Pune and its adjacent cities, AP is not way behind in positioning itself as a prime choice for people commuting.

I had got a chance to travel in one of its vehicle "GARUDA" recently and it was nothing less then floating-in-air experience for me. If you are used to a government bus then you would first have difficulty in identifying this bus as it doesn't inherit even a single value from it's predecessor. Clean, vibrant colors, tall, punctual are some qualities that would use to describe these buses. When someone told that it is by Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation then I was searching for a sign or atleast a poster of our politicians depicting them as "discoverer" of this vehicle but contrary, it just had a small edging in one of it's corners "Govt. Vehicle".

The pricing was perfect to tempt me buy one ticket from Hyderabad to Vijayawada (just 80 Rs. more than normal bus) and the bus started it's journey at 8 AM sharp. To my surprise I was offered some refreshments by the attender in the bus (of course chargeable) in addition to the usual water bottle that is given free of cost. The quality of the air-conditioning, seats and curtains were perfect and to add to the ambience the TV was functioning without a single glitch. At the end of my travel, the attender distributed feedback forms to help them improve their services; I was impressed to say the least.

I was home by 1:30 PM, after traveling for 5.5 Hrs. And on my way back to Pune, in one of a poster regarding the schedules of these vehicles, it was written that the traveling time between Hyderabad and Vijayawada is 5.5 hrs (isn't that punctual). Now, when I wanted to take a bus from Hyderabad to Pune then I was having no doubt but to opt for GARUDA.

Reach me at hifromsriram at HOTMAIL.com