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Read the responses to this article. Dear Editor,
My name is Sanjay and am presently working in Bangalore . I often travel to my home town Dharwad/Hubli by mostly VRL the well known private bus company. When VRL buses first came to ply on this route they were really concerned about their customers and cared a lot about them. That really helped VRL to dominate the sector and be very successful.
A Vijayananda Road Lines
(VRL) Bus on which Sanjay Bhat's Wife traveled
Now-a-days the customer (passenger) is treated like a piece of cargo. One would get this feeling specifically by the way the tickets collectors talk with you in Hubli and also by traveling on Hubli-Bangalore route by the daily 10 pm bus (leaving hubli at 10 pm and is a 2+1 seater). The buses are driven at breakneck speeds for the duration the buses ply on the roads. Also there is a stop-over at Harihar for unloading cargo for 15-30 minutes during the night between 1:30 to 2 am in the night. EzÀÄ 2003 gÀ K¦æ¯ï 20 gÀ0zÀÄ ¥ÀæPÀlªÁzÀ ¯ÉÃR£À. "C0¢£À ¥Àj¹ÜwUÀÆ ¥Àæ¸ÀPÀÛ ¹ÜwUÀÆ §ºÀ¼À ªÀåvÁå¸À«zÀÄÝ, FUÀ £ÁªÀÅ GvÀÛªÀĪÁzÀ ¸ÉêÉAiÀÄ£ÀÄß ¤ÃqÀÄwÛzÉÝêÉ. £ÀªÀÄä ªÁ¯ÉÆéà §¸ÀÄìUÀ¼ÀÄ gÁdåzÀ¯Éèà CvÀÄåvÀÛªÀÄ §¸ÀÄìUÀ¼ÀÄ J0zÀÄ ¥Àæ±À0¸ÉUÉ ¥ÁvÀæªÁVªÉ" J0zÀÄ «. Dgï. J¯ï. ¸À0¸ÉÜAiÀÄ ¥ÀgÀªÁV ²æà PÉ. «zÁå±À0PÀgïgÀªÀgÀÄ £ÀªÀÄUÉ w½¹zÁÝgÉ. DzÀÄzÀj0zÀ F ¯ÉÃR£ÀªÀ£ÀÄß N¢ «. Dgï. J¯ï. ¸À0¸ÉÜAiÀÄ §¸ÀÄìUÀ¼À PÀÄjvÀÄ vÀ¥ÀÅöà PÀ®à£ÉUÀ¼À£ÀÄß ºÉÆ0zÀ¨ÉÃr. | The place where cargo is unloaded is ill equipped and dirty. I have attached a recent photograph of my wife traveling on VRL by this route. She asked for the toilet in Harihar when the bus stopped for unloading and was told to use the street-side as there were no toilets for passengers at that place.
Mrs. Bhat was forced to take
a seat that had a leaking window which had plastic shield!!
Moreover during the trip she was asked to sit on a seat that was totally wet due to rain and also leakages from the window just above the seat. When asked to rectify the problem in Hubli they were arrogant to say that they will not do anything. Upon persistence and a fight they agreed to put a plastic sheet across the window as shown in the photograph. She had to endure the wet seat and sit on it the whole night.
Mrs. Bhat was forced to take
a seat that had a leaking window which had plastic shield!!
Hoping for a publication of the above incident in your paper on the net.
Thanks
& regards,
Sanjay
Harish Mattur and Srikanth
Deshpande tried to talk (on behalf
f OKC) to the concerned VRL authorities about the quality
of service they provide to the customers. Here is what
happened in their own words:
We decided to meet the manager of VRL responsible for the customer service. We did not want to show the article (written by Sri. Bhat) and the photos before we talk to VRL officers. We entered the VRL office in Bangalore and we introduced ourselves as journalists (We are.. part-time journalists these days.. for OKC!!).
We saw a number of customers waiting to book tickets for the night bus services. As VRL is one of the leading bus operators to the northern parts of Karnataka, there were many people waiting for their turn to book tickets. This is the holiday season hence there was a huge demand for tickets. We introduced ourselves to the booking agents and told them that we need to meet the manager. The agent replied in a rude manner and told us that Mr. Thontadhaarya (the manager) is out of station. We asked him when is he going to be back and got a response that he may come back after a week. As we were speaking to the agent another VRL employee intervened, He asked us what is that we wanted and we told him that we wanted to meet any officer of the VRL group. This man told us that the higher authorities are very busy and hence we cannot meet anybody.
We were very disappointed by the feedback we got from the people at VRL. When I asked a couple of commuters of VRL they told us that the employees of VRL are indeed very rude. They sometimes even use abusive language. But people have no other choice as VRL has a better network than the KSRTC. Some of the drivers and the bus crew act as if they own the bus. and they are doing a favor to the passengers!! VRL group needs to understand that these are the very people which represent VRL and customers will ultimately punish VRL.
Till we find a better option, we have no choice but to use VRL. OKC will continue the attempts to talk to the VRL management. Responses:
Name : Prashant Ghargi
Comments : Same experience faced by me and several other kannadigas, Just because we continue to travel by VRL, they have become so arrogant and high-handed in their behavior and attitude to passengers. We must boycott their services and use KAMAT, and other tourists, which would any day offer better service. Name : NRP
Subject : VRL Related.
Comments : Hi, This is my experience with VRL. I hope that this email is published on your website.
I am a resident of Hubli currently Living in Amsterdam, Holland. On a visit to India I had booked a ticket from Hubli to Bangalore (pick up, Ashok Nagar). Right from the journey started the bus was making rattling sounds and was shaking. The driver and his assistant stopped the bus and checked for the problem, but were not able to locate it. This happened 2-3 times and by this time we covered quite some distance. The bus was stopped again and this time they found the culprit and - HOLD YOUR BREATH - the reason was that the nuts on the wheels of the bus were not tightened and the wheels where wobbling. Imagine what would have happened if one of them had come off......
Moreover there where no spanners in the bus.....they had to stop a truck and borrow the necessary tools.
When I reached B'lore I tried to get in touch with the so called Managers...but as usual they were too busy.
Sometimes I felt that the drivers where more used to driving trucks rather than driving buses! Thanks & Regards, An Indian!!!! Name : Anand N Koodagi
Subject : Travel (VRL issues)
Comments : Bijapur people face lot of problem in traveling to b'lore in different private buses especially in VRL. Bijapur people feels that they are totally isolated from Karnataka. Local MLAs and MPs are not doing enough to Bijapur. We all request all KN MPs and MLA's to have tour from Bijapur to Bidar on KSRTC Bus drive...then they can feel real pain what the public is suffering. Name : Parashuram
Comments : VRL has got lot of loyal customers. But it is losing due to the careless attitude towards its customers. I was one among their loyal customers . I used to travel from Dharwad to Bangalore. There are lot of irritating incidents during travel. Finally I decided to take other services. VRL should learn from their mistakes. Regards, Parashuram User Name: Chandra
VRL has introduced buses to the remote corners of Karnataka, especially the North Karnataka sector and that is really a very commendable job, especially considering the fact that the Phudaris who sit in the air-conditioned city of Bangalore don't give a damn about this region.
However, it is the operating staff, the ones who take care of the maintenance of buses and the ones who sit in the offices who play spoilsports.
I was traveling to Bangalore on a VRL bus sometime back. The bus was supposed to drop me to Vijayanagar after taking some people from a change-over bus at Gandhinagar. At Gandhinagar, two persons from the VRL office got into the bus and since they were supposed to go towards Lal-Bagh, they made a royal announcement that the drop will be only towards the Jayanagar sector and there will not be any drop towards the Vijayanagar area. When we argued that, at least if this had been informed to us at Rajajinagar, we could have saved some time and money. But the staff were adamant and started speaking with raised voices. We didn't have any option , but to get down and make our arrangements.
It is incidents like these that make us realize that sometimes some things can be worse than the state run KSRTC buses... Name : Venkat
Subject : about VRL
Comments : yes I truly agree with all other people VRL should should improve its customer service .... because people are paying the money to travel to VRL. they should get the benifit to what they pay? if VRL doesn't think about it don't worry it will definitely go down in today's world of competition :) hah :)
Name : Umesh Satyanarayana
Comments : VRL should learn from its mistakes. VRL had built in confidence with people of Karnataka since years. Please don't let it melt down. Please keep up your commitment to customer satisfaction. Comfort counts!!!!
Umesh Satyanarayana
San Diego, California. Click here to read more such ideas, suggestions, problems, concerns and more!!! (Who said everything is nice and dandy in "Hi-Tech" Karnataka ?)
Click here to read about More disgusting people and institutions (Thoo Nimma)
Click here if you would like to Contribute or send a feedback.
Click Here to read the feedback of Mr. Vijaya Sankeshwar regarding this issue.
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