HRTC reached yet another record of completing Dalhousie to Delhi Journey in 23 Hrs 15 Mins with special services for it's passengers

Today let me take you through a journey from Dalhousie to Delhi in Volvo which starts from Chamba. This Volvo picks passengers from Dalhousie at 7:50pm, so I was ready at Dalhousie bus stand on 18th October. Bus reached Dalhousie bus stand 5 mins before and left on time. It's a pretty curvy road till Pathankot and the driver made sure that he know how steep if the curve. That was first signal for me to guess that this ride is not going to be so smooth, but I hadn't imagined what happened next.


Today let me take you through a journey from Dalhousie to Delhi in Volvo which starts from Chamba. This Volvo picks passengers from Dalhousie at 7:50pm, so I was ready at Dalhousie bus stand on 18th October. Bus reached Dalhousie bus stand 5 mins before and left on time. It's a pretty curvy road till Pathankot and the driver made sure that he know how steep if the curve. That was first signal for me to guess that this ride is not going to be so smooth, but I hadn't imagined what happened next.


After 30 mins, bus stopped for dinner and soon after we started from the dinner place, one of the tyre got busted. Driver and condustor managed to change the trye and replace it with the spare one in the bus. We moved on and then I slept. I prefer taking overnight buses from Himachal to Delhi, as I can sleep very easily and these Volvo buses are quite comfortable with extendable seats. 

 

At around 4am, I woke up to find out that bus had stopped at a dark place which is unusual because buses usually stop at dhabas for tea/meal breaks in between. Soon I got to know that another tyre got punctured and driver/conductor are trying to replace the tyre. After 30-40, when I got down, I got to know that driver didn't have enough equipments to take out the tyre. So after an hour or so, they started finding a mechanic. Now someone in the bus reminded that what would driver even do if he takes out the tyre as they didn't have another spare tyre to change. So essentially they spent 1 hr just waiting. We told ourselves that what can they do in the dark, so let them find a mechanic now. 

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At around, 6:45, driver came back with another jack and at that time we got to know that they also lacked equipment. At this point of time, I tweeted to HRTC about the situation as there was no way that we would reach Delhi by 9am. Even 12pm as ETA was unachievable by then. 

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By 7:25, driver took out of the trye and took it to some mechanic shop in an auto-rickshaw. All of us waited patiently as we understand fixing a tyre may take 45 mins to an hour. By 10am everyone started getting uncomfortable with situation as conductor was not giving clear status and always said that problem will be fixed in next 10 mins and they will come back to the place where bus was parked in 15 mins. 


Soon we realised that this problem is not getting resolved and driver/conductor were just telling lies. Some of the folks who had train/flight from Delhi, started moving on in other alternate options. 

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At around 10:15am, I called up DM Dharmshala. The person on other side of the phone asked me to talk to RM Chamba and also provided the phone number. I called RM Chamba and explained the whole situation. He was surprised that we were not provided any alternate solution in last 6 hours. He immediately asked the conductor to arrange alternate taxi or another Volvo bus.


Now conductor started telling lot of details but was still not acting on the directions given by RM Chamba. Info he was sharing :

1. This Volvo is not owned by HRTC but by a private businessman who gets fixed amount from govt for daily ride. 

2. These buses are not maintained well. (I could relate to it, as I had taken Delhi-Chamba on 13th Oct and on that day as well, bus stopped working before Pathankot and we were shifted to Delhi-Dalhousie Volvo.)

3. Conductor also mentioned that driver is not on HRTC payroll but an employee of private owner of the bus. He claimed that he is on HRTC payroll. 


Essentially now conductor was trying to establish that it's not my problem but these private players are not maintaining buses and creating problems. But in contrast, he was not even doing anything. At this moment, we started making more noise and pushed him to arrange the alternate. He was clearly trying to favor this private owner who had to arrange taxis, as HRTC doesn't bear this cost. We started smelling weird things and now all dots were connecting. So strategy is not to maintain these buses, when they stop on the way, send passengers in other HRTC buses and save the fuel.  

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I had to call RM Chamba almost 5-6 times and only channel was working a little. At around 10:45, conductor said that taxis are being arranged and they are coming from Ropar so expect them in next 45 mins - 11:35am. 

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In the meantime, driver showed up with fixed tyre and he was confident that problem is fixed. They offered us to go to Delhi in bus and all of us agreed. One of the passenger noticed another tyre, which was in very bad shape. So more time we were spending around the bus, more concerning problems we were noticing and then wondering how can we even chose such services for premium cost. 

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Driver and conductor started talking to each other. After few mins, they said that bus still has other problem and asked us to take taxis. They dropped us at Bharatgarh at around 12pm, where taxis were waiting. 

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And finally we reached Delhi Delhi ISBT at 7pm. So here is how HRTC managed to land us in Delhi in 23 hours. 

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