Manish Tours & Travels is one of the most trusted bus fleet operators in South India, known for its dedicated daily schedules and group package offers. Established in 2002, with its headquarters located at Bengaluru, Manish Tours & Travels holds a renowned name for its daily schedule services, group tour packages, pilgrimage-darshan packages and sight-seeing services.
We spoke to Mr. B. Srinivas, Managing Director, Manish Tours & Travels, at its head office, to know more about the fleet operator’s business and its committed approach to connect people to various places through a plethora of services.
Speaking about his entrepreneurial journey, Mr. Srinivas said: “I ventured into the fleet operator business in 2002. I realized a good potential business opportunity through introducing bus – tourist group package tours, which can boost tourism and can meet the required passenger and traveller demand in this sector. I started my initial package with ‘Tirupati Balaji Darshan’ from Bengaluru, which showed good results. With time, we introduced group tour packages, daily bus schedules, sight-seeing trips and added more pilgrimage darshan packages to boost our services, which helped the company in passenger flow and growth in business revenue in the long term”.
Magnum of services
Manish Tours & Travels worked on a business model of offering a varied range of services – offering both group packages and daily schedule fleet services, which saw a remarkable exponential growth in the revenue and fleet services. Manish offers daily pilgrimage darshan packages like – Tirupati Balaji Darshan (Bengaluru to Tirupati), Madurai Rameshwaram Temple Darshan (Bengaluru to Madurai Rameshwaram), Shirdi Sai Darshan (Bengaluru to Shirdi). For Tirupati Balaji Darshan package, Manish offers a standard and a quick darshan package, also. The quick darshan package is a tie-up tour package with APTDC (Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation) and APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation). The holiday tour packages includes trips from Bengaluru to Allepy, Goa, Ramoji Film City (Hyderabad), Kodaikanal, Madurai (Rameshwaram), Munnar, Coonoor, Coorg (Madurai), Pondicherry, etc. Manish have recently introduced Delhi – Shimla – Manali – 6 nights and 7 days tour package, extending its services to North India. With time, the fleet operator saw a huge potential in daily fleet schedules and it started services from Bengaluru to Tirupati, Karatagi, Dharwad, Belagavi, Davengere, Ichalkaranji, Chikkodi, Panjim (Goa), Mallapur, Calicut, Kannur, etc. It has also started Chennai – Hospet (Karnataka) which is one of its longest routes covering almost 700 km one way. The fleet operator has added sight-seeing trips in its services and currently offers Bengaluru to Mysore sight-seeing package and Bengaluru City sight-seeing package, for its customers.
Focus on fleet maintenance
Defining the strategy of his business model, the MD added: “I have worked hard to create a brand model through my dedicated services. Today, we try to give the best service to the customer, when they travel with us or opt for our packages for spending their holidays. We have good market reviews and we reach the public by understanding their requirements and needs”. With a fleet strength of around 50 buses, which includes Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors – Non AC Sleeper, AC Sleeper, AC Seater – Mercedes Benz Biaxle and Multiaxle Coaches, Volvo B9R Multiaxles Coaches – Manish Travels offers the best bus and coach range for its fleet services. “We have some new developments on the operation front. We have added GPS on most of our buses for real time fleet tracking. Our buses have Wi-Fi Connectivity. Security and Safety is our top priority and in adherance to the same, we have installed CCTVs in our buses and also in some of our branch offices for better security”, told the MD.
Manish Tours & Travels maintains a dedicated garage at TR Mill Parking facility, in Bengaluru. The fleet operator has a maintenance team consisting of 10 members who look after the bus fleet and maintenance work like parking, bus wash, mechanical and automobile maintenance – oil change, greasing, minor bus body works, etc.
Talking about future fleet and route expansion plans, the MD observed: “Future fleet expansion depends on introduction of new routes. We do have plans on paper, but we will expand and add new buses accordingly to the need in a planned way. Our expansion and new ventures in terms of group packages depends on the passenger needs and demands. While for daily schedule route expansions, we have a schematic procedure which includes proposed route survey, city to city passenger flow check, route – road transport study, etc. Our pilgrimage trips are a service to the public devotion and religious beliefs. We are working to introduce more tour and religious packages in the coming days through our partnership with government-run tourism bodies like KSTDC, ITDC and APTDC on PPP (Public Private Partnership) model. A decade ago, technology was not that dominant in bus fleet industry as it is prevalent now. With the advent of online booking, we have reached the general mass in a big way to offer our services and this has resulted in constant revenue growth”.
Manish Travels has a committed technical team with managers to take care of the bus crew / driver problems and issues. The operator stresses on punctuality, cleanliness and good crew behaviour – which it terms as its USPs on sustainable service front. Online feedback and suggestions from online platforms like RedBus are being attended with priority with follow-up as and when required.
Benefits of PPP model
When asked about benefits of partnership with Government tourism bodies like APTDC on PPP model in pilgrimage darshan trips like ‘Tirupati Balaji Darshan’, Mr. Srinivas responds: “Our tie-up with Government bodies like APTDC has helped us to grow with in terms of our services. I will explain you with our ‘APTDC Tirupati Quick Darshan’ package which is a good example for the same. A visitor departs from Bengaluru to Tirupati on our bus. On arrival, he is greeted and received by our APTDC tour guide who helps him for hotel check-in for fresh up, and later accompanies him to have darshan at Alamelu Mangapura. Later the visitor is accompanied back to the hotel for breakfast. The APTDC guide accompanies him to Tirumala by an APSRTC Link bus for darshan. After darshan, the visitor is accompanied back to Tirupati for lunch and later he is being helped to board our bus back to Bengaluru. This comes all in a package and the visitor needs to pay only Rs. 200/- extra for the breakfast and lunch at the time of departure to Tirupati from Bengaluru. In short, our entire package includes travelling from Bengaluru to Tirupati and back by our premium class Mercedes Benz Coach, fresh up at Srinivasa Residency, Quick Darshan Ticket (Rs. 300), and 2 Sweet Prasadam per person. To conclude, with help from our partner, APTDC, our quick darshan package provides a convenient way to help pilgrims visit – Holy Tirupati Balaji and return, at ease”.
Challenges & future strategy
Stating about the challenges faced by private fleet operators, the MD said: “We do have challenges on our platform. I would like to highlight the non-uniform government taxation policy on the transport sector and adding to it the lack of unity amongst fleet operators on addressing the issues faced by the bus operator community in India. I am happy about the formation of BOCI (Bus Operators Confederation of India), which I believe is a perfect platform where we can come together and address the issues and challenges beforehand”.
On a more optimistic note, Mr. Srinivas concluded: “The bus fleet industry in India has a bright future with exponential growth in the bus manufacturing industry and advanced technologies adopted in buses and coaches. There will be a tremendous boost in tourism and bus travel pan-India with improving road infrastructure. With BOCI coming into the arena, I feel we are progressing in the right direction, which will navigate and propel us towards our directives. Tourism, both domestic and international, can be a huge potential for growth of revenue, which will not only show growth in the sector but will also open up new opportunities for employment in the bus industry in India. We, at Manish Travels, have been totally dedicated during our 15 years of service from 2002 to 2017 and have progressive plans that we wish to implement soon, in line with our motto of providing better and sustainable services for the public”.
MANISH TOURS & TRAVELS STATS :
- Formed in 2002
- Number of buses in fleet : 50
- Longest route operated at present : Chennai to Hospet (684 Kms) and Bengaluru to Ichalkaranji (618 Kms)
- Distance covered everyday : 25,000 kms
- Passengers carried daily : 1300
- Schedules per day : 20
- Online Booking Portal : www.manishbus.com