From inside, they look like coffins

Veeresh Malik

From the outside, they look very attractive, like moving billboards in garish colours, mobile real-estate ads with catchy slogans and captivating graphics. From inside, believe me, they resemble coffins. The first question that comes to your mind when you board one—for the first and sometimes the last time is: How did these contraptions ever pass any sort of safety regulations? Maybe they didn’t, because they operate only at night. The permit regulations mention the number of passengers—not the way they are transported.

A brief conversation with the driver/conductor of one such bus revealed that ‘passing’ was usually done for buses configured in sitting versions and then they are converted to sleepers. Along the route, these sleeper buses do not touch regular government bus terminals, operating pick-up and drop from roadside locations outside their own or sales agents’ offices.  

Very recently, I travelled on the Pune-Goa route by one of these amazing contraptions—the 2x1 air-conditioned multi-axle sleeper bus. It was a late night departure from Pune and when I wanted to disembark after a few hours, we were already well into the ghat sections on a cold and foggy night where even the bus-driver, a regular on the route, got lost. Others have not been so lucky, and horror stories of disembarking midway due to claustrophobia, disorientation, terrible air-quality and most of all a miserable bumpy ride while swaying from side to side, have been provided by people who say ‘never again’.

Certainly, some swear by them too, and the ‘double beds’ on board with curtains drawn found favour with a certain type of couples. In my case, the same day, a few hours before, I was on the 2x2 air-conditioned luxury bus service from Dadar (Mumbai) to Pune sitting in a reclining seat for four hours with ample head-room and air-space, facing forward and able to catch a nap. An example of great service by a state road transport firm. The 8-9-hour journey in the sleeper bus, of the same vehicle manufacturer, run by a private company, was torture. I disembarked at Panjim, nerves jangling and totally disoriented.

Increasingly found on our roads now, especially where journey exceed eight hours or so, are these fully sleeper buses with two-tier configurations. Some are mounted on luxury new generation monocoque buses, non air-conditioned basic options mounted on more traditional chassis-based models and all points in between.

You won’t see them at exhibitions and trade fairs. Manufacturers privately say that these sleeper configurations do not have their stamp of approval for a variety of reasons; safety is only one of them. However, business is business, and a bare shell or chassis sold by them is out of their hands, and so what the buyer does with the bus is none of their business.

This is foolish because it is the manufacturer’s trademark, brand equity, reputation, product warranty and more, out on the road. You and I as vehicle owners would lose warranty and insurance if we were to make even minor modifications to our vehicles. How these ‘sleeper buses’ are on our roads is not fully understood. But if you must travel on them, then please check them out first.

Car Registrations: Residence issues

RTOs are making it really tough to register

The Regional Transport Offices all over the country are taking the ‘proof of address’ requirements to absurd heights. On one side, an under-the-table transaction of a few thousand rupees can get you the required clearances; on the other hand; unless you satisfy multiple requirements—the latest being that of an Aadhaar card especially if you don’t have one—you will be told by a grinning dealer salesperson that you will not get a registration.

One such case involves a friend and reader, who has been leading a three-city life for decades now—a factory in one state, a home in another and a business office in a third. Very recently, he bought a home in the state where he has his factory and wanted to buy as well as register a car there for his personal use.

The trauma he is facing is amazing especially since he has already paid for the car, taken delivery, but is now unable to get registration. It is obvious to all but the very blind that the RTOs and dealer staff are in cahoots on this, as he is shoved from one to the other. Readers are advised to complete registration formalities prior to paying for the vehicle so that, in case there are any tricks waiting to be sprung on you, you learn about them in advance. The bigger lesson here is that the business of national security is not being served by this method adopted by the RTOs. The fact is, a totally fake address, based on some local documentation, is possible for all of Rs3,000.

High Security Number Plates: Problems galore

Faulty execution of a good idea makes it worse

The high security registration plates (HSRPs) episode is fast becoming a joke, which would have been fine, but the cost of the joke is going to be on us. As always, once again, a brilliant idea is rapidly moving towards becoming a disaster in the implementation phase.

In the first case, the country’s automobile owners were made to change from black backgrounds to white. You can now be prepared to keep spending on fancy HSRPs every time you shift location, buy a new or used vehicle, or discover that somebody has damaged the existing HSRP or its add-ons. The reasons are:

•    There are now about 20 different manufacturers of HSRPs in India, and how the various state and Central authorities will keep track of what is going on, remains to be seen. Expect to see fake HSRPs as well as lack of any real audit across such a large number of manufacturers and sub-contractors.

•    The issue of varying methods of alpha-numerics used by different RTOs has not been resolved. So, what we will have is registration numbers which will have anything from 8 to 13 alpha-numerics, adding to the confusion.

•    There is yet no clarity on the ‘national registration number’ scheme or concept which has been suggested by the Central government. It is not known if that number will be incorporated by the various state authorities onto the HSRP and how.

•    There already exists a ‘VIN’ (vehicle identification number) on all motor vehicles manufactured anywhere in the world. This number is unique through the life of the vehicle. Why this existing alpha-numeric itself cannot be used on the HSRP is unknown—especially since it also connects the physical vehicle itself to the electronics therein.

•    And, finally, word is out: The HSRP is not expected to resolve issues pertaining to the flourishing automobile theft industry.

As always, willy-nilly, the consumer, customer and taxpayer are being pushed towards paying for another faulty execution of a good idea. Meanwhile, the timeline on actual implementation of HSRP moves further away in different states, while newer and better technologies and methods at cheaper costs emerge elsewhere in the world.

Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love—writing. He is also involved actively in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves.