TP 625 of Kottayam – The Story of a Bus.
KSRTC’s TP 625 Ordinary bus of Kottayam depot gets ready to depart for Pathanamthitta. Though it is a lowly ordinary now, this bus was one of the heroes and superstars of KSRTC in its youth. It was inducted 10 years back in 2002 as one of KSRTC’s very first “Hi-Tech” “oval faced” Superfasts in the short-lived yellow-green livery with side glass windows (here is another one, with shutters), a novelty and pride of the fleet, along with the first KSRTC Volvos (TP 620). I remember taking a ride in one of the new “Hi-Tech” Superfasts in December 2002 from Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam just to get a feel of the bus.
Later, this bus met with an accident (this one, I guess) and the front was rebuilt to look like this. Having had its run as a Superfast, the poor thing was converted and rebuilt to an ordinary in 2010 to look like this, and later in 2011 it was again rebuilt to look how it is now, much better. Note that the SuperFast seats have been retained. Now, the years of its Superfast youth behind, she lives a peaceful life of an Ordinary in the autumn of her life… Thus is the story of a bus.
