Domestic travel: Airlines can go fly a kite!

11.12.10

My work takes me to and fro Bangalore-Pune at least half a dozen times a year. A decade back, this journey one way meant 24hrs by road or at best 20 hrs by rail. If you were in the productive years, surface transport was ruled out and air travel a necessity. Just look at what changes to infrastructure have done.

We now have 4 laned highways and Volvo/Mercedes buses. Point to point air travel (from my house in Kothrud to downtown Bangalore )takes 7 hours, bus travel takes 13 hrs ( I actual did it in 13 hrs on 6.12 by KSRTC Volvo) and holds promise of 11 hrs once the highway is fully completed.

Ditto on the Pune Delhi sector. Duronto takes you to Del in 20 hrs and holds promise of a 12 hr ride once the rapid corridor comes up in Gujarat.

At this rate,over a period of time,only the snobs and hicks will be travelling by air, at least intra India.Praful Patel then need not oversee the greedy boys!

TVS Suzukied, Hero Hondaed

5.12.10

A couple of years back TVS was dear Johned by Suzuki. This turned out to be good for them. A confident TVS went on to launch Victor and notch respectable market share in the competitive bike segment. It has now forayed into 3 wheelers with their King and slowly inching its way into a pan India presence in Bajaj dominated market.

Over the weekend, Honda has announced plans to ditch its partner Hero and focus on HSMI. It would be interesting to see if parting ways with Honda will prove to be a blessing for Hero group. This should stir their engineering juices to come out with a killer product on their own. Let us not forget what homespun Pulsar did to Bajaj's fortunes.

I am quite upbeat that Hero will come out with flying colours after this divorce. After all, they have not become the world's largest 2 wheeler company by fluke!Time the Japs got a taste of their own medicine.