“Greet Your Crew” Series – Venkat Reddy expresses need for driver centric approach

Mr Venkatreddy Somareddy Tippareddy, a resident of Sambra, Belagavi - located in Northern part of Karnataka, works for Bengaluru based bus fleet operator - SRS Travels. I spoke to Mr Venkatreddy, at Belagavi regarding my new initiative under "Greet Your Crew" Blog Series, to highlight the bus crews in India, who drive these coaches connecting towns and cities Pan-India.

GREET YOUR CREW SERIES - MR VENKAT REDDY ON HIS MERCEDES COACH

A Two Decade Experience  

Narrating his two decades of driving experience in bus industry in India, Mr Venkatreddy said, "I started my bus driving career with Hanuman Travels, late back in 1996 on Hubballi - Mumbai (VT) route on a 2+2 non-ac semi sleeper coach. After an initial work experience of 4 months, I joined VRL Travels and continued driving for the company till the year 2000. I drove many different kinds of bus-makes viz., Ashok Leyland, Tata ACGL and Hino buses, while working in VRL on routes like Hubballi - Mumbai (VT / Borivali / Dombivali / Kalyan / Thane) and Solapur to Mumbai (VT). In the late half of 2000, I joined Belagavi based Pai Travels and continued driving on Belagavi to Bengaluru, Mumbai (Borivali) and Pune routes. In 2003, I completed by Volvo Bus training on Volvo B7R Mark 1 driveline. In 2004, I switched over to Khurana Travels, based in Maharashtra, where I drove Volvo buses on Pune - Nagpur and Indore - Mumbai (VT) routes. After 5 months, I changed over to Kolhapur (Maharashtra) based Konduskar Travels and worked for 4 years till 2008. I was driving Volvo B7R Mark 3 and Mercedes-Benz (Sutlej built) multiaxles on Bengaluru and Mumbai (Borivali) routes from Kolhapur." He further added, "In 2008, I joined Belagavi based PVG Translines and drove on Belagavi - Bengaluru route for 5 months on a Volvo B7R Mark 2 coach. Thereafter, I started driving tourist taxis within Karnataka and Maharashtra as a time-off from my regular bus driving due to some situational reasons. In 2010, I joined Belagavi based Shantadurga Travels and drove Mercedes-Benz (Sutlej built) on Goa to Bengaluru route till 2011. In 2011, I joined my present company, SRS Travels wherein i have driven ac sleeper coach, non ac seater coach, Volvo B9R multiaxles and Mercedes-Benz Super High Deck multiaxles on Belagavi - Bengaluru route till date. In 2014, I completed my Volvo B9R multiaxle training, at Volvo Buses India followed by Mercedes-Benz Super High Deck Multiaxle training at Daimler India Chennai recently one year ago in 2017. "

GREET YOUR CREW SERIES - MR VENKAT REDDY ON HIS MERCEDES COACH

Terming his experience with his present employer, SRS Travels a learning experience, Mr Reddy appreciated SRS's good prompt bus maintenance work while maintaining a huge fleet of buses. He currently drives a Mercedes-Benz Super High Deck Multiaxle on Belagavi - Bengaluru route, and also does Bengaluru - Mysore on the same coach once in two weeks. Answering about the insurance coverage on behalf of the fleet operator , Mr Reddy told that the driver insurance is covered by PF and ESI facilities which covers accidental as well as health insurance. 

Driver Well-Being : A Necessity 

Expressing concern on need of regular management and bus driver/crew interactions, Mr Reddy felt the requirement of the importance of feedback and discussions as a tool to improve fleet and passenger services. When asked about his views on driver health, Mr Reddy spoke, " In 2013, there was an eye test camp being conducted by SRS Travels in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, for all drivers working in the company. I heartly welcome the noble step being taken, but i feel there should be regular quarterly health check up for bus drivers, which need to be conducted as priority, since the driver well-being gets mainly affected because of strain and stress the drivers undergo due to working conditions and their driving schedules. I feel a proper health monitoring will help taking care of adversities like accidents wherein the driver have been found mostly to doze-off due to stress, fatigue and tiredness, causing loss of his life in most instances and increasing risk of unrecoverable damage to his body. A fatal accident also puts on-board passenger lives in danger and also have resulted in death due to gruesome injuries." Mr Reddy further added, "In past there have been no concern about the driver meals or food. Better food habits and awareness will also improve the driver health and hence in return will promote safe driving."

Speaking about safe driving, Mr Reddy said, "On behalf of SRS Travels, video sessions were conducted regarding safe driving awareness in the year 2013 - 14, at their head office located at Kalasipalyam, Bengaluru. During my oem driver training at Volvo Buses India and Daimler India, we were given safe driving training as a part of the course."

Opinions on Premium OEM Coaches

Sharing his opinions on the quality of the premium buses in India, Mr Reddy expressed, "In my opinion and based on my driving experiences, Mercedes-Benz is one of the best premium coach drivelines running in India. The coach has a better road grip, and has a better control in hilly terrain driving. Thanks to its powerful brakes, the vehicles ensures total vehicle safety during emergency braking. Interiors of the present Super High Deck multiaxle is better but i feel the cabin space could have been still improved. I felt Volvo B9R multiaxle has a better cabin space in terms of utilities. Also there is a need of the rear camera on the Super High Deck - Mercedes Benz. Since its a 15 mtr long coach, i feel a rear camera can help assist the driver in reversing the vehicle and as well as to monitor rear vehicular traffic in city and on highway. Utilities like cabin bottle holder for the bus driver can also be installed to make the cabin space more equipped keeping in mind, driver convenience."

Concluding with his final words, Mr Reddy felt, "The bus driver plays an important role in the bus fleet operation business by keeping the buses on the move and transporting the passengers from one destination to the other. I feel there is a need to give importance to all round driver well-being, which will ensure better bus fleet services in India, both on the operation front as well as in terms of road safety."