Bharathi by Kerala Lines B9R BLR-TVM-BLR

Pic of the B9R @ Bharathi Garage . Image courtesy Binai Shankar

It was end of Nov and I had planned for a trip home. This time, after long was travelling on a Friday. So decided to call my friend at Kerala Lines and asked for a seat. Thus the seat was booked. He informed me that  Kerala Lines was managing the Bharathi Bus on this route.

So in the evening decided to take an bus and head to Madiwala, left at 19:30 and walked to the bus stop and caught a bus at 19:40 and sat through the traffic. Reached Madiwala masjid at 20:35 , got down and walked to Cauvery , behind  the Ayyappa Temple, downed a dosa and left for the Travel Center office.

I walked through the line of the waiting G4 and the Shama and was happy to see the Bharathi B9R already waiting.  Kerala Lines B9R to Pathinamthitta was also boarding. The RKG Kerlalines to Guruvayoor was also waiting behind our bus. It was nice to now that all the buses were on time and ready for boarding. I went in to the office and asked about my ticket. I was informed I could pick it up from the bus itself. I boarded the bus and was given a 3rd row Window seat. I requested and got the aisle seat. There were about 35 people on board and we started at 21:05. This to me is a good start. Hardly do buses start with almost perfect timing. Got to St Johns Signal and took a left , A Tamil movie "Endhiran" was being played.  We went on through the Elevated expressway. In the chit chat with the driver , he told me that they had to do a Chennai trip sometime last week and there Volvo service guys had visited the Bharathi garage and had speed locked the buses at 90.This meant I was sure we would not reach before 10 AM.

We reached Bommasandra and stopped in front of Angel travels . We waited fro more than 10 min. I enquired with the driver and he told me that 2 passengers were waiting under the flyover and were coming from a different bus. Apparently the Bharathi office guys told the guy to wait near the entrance to BETL but these two were waiting near Bomanahalli bus stop. We wasted a good 30 min over there. By the time we left it was almost 22:00. Then we got stuck in the now regular jam at zuzuwadi check post and crawled into Hosur at 22:30 and then through Krishnagiri at 23:10. We crossed the Dharmapuri toll around midnight. The driving was sedate(no hard break or sharp cuts). The seats though were of Rexine. I typically find them to be hot and uneasy to use, So spread the blanket provided and decided to sleep on that. The blankets were quite big and nice, (Washed or not I do not know).There was one driver on the Bus and one joined enroute, both not in uniform.Here is when I went off to sleep.

Woke up and looked at the watch. It was 06:05 and we were near the Vannarpet old bypass in Tirunelveli. We dropped a couple of passengers at the new bus stand and proceeded. Hardly had we taken the right off the old bypass, we were stopped by an RTO for checking.

I waited for some time and alighted from the bus. The RTO was issuing a check report for having stickering on the windows and a spot fine of 500 Rs was charged. This wasted another good 15 min. So we got on to the 4 lane road at 06:30. Here on I felt sorry for the driver. There was flat empty stretch of road and the bus would not budge above 90. He did a quick stop at the Nanguneri toll for people to use the wash rooms. We reached Nagercoil at 07:40 and departed after dropping a few passengers.

The Nagercoil Trivandrum road is one of the busiest ad narrowest stretches of NH in the south of the country. Being a regular I was sure that we would not reach before 10. There was usual Saturday morning traffic. No major traffic blocks anywhere meant we reached Papanamcode by 09:35. I got dropped off in Killipalam at 9:45. I got off the bus with a thanks to the driver. There was a Suresh Kallada B9r right behind us . And one minute later saw the KPN B9R sleeper coming through. This was a bus that leave BLR at 20:00 and charges 1500Rs. Felt sorry for the poor Pax.

Decided my return would be on Monday evening. Called up the Travel Center office in Trivandrum and told them to keep a seat booked. They told me to come by 19:45 and told me I could pickup the ticket then.

In the afternoon had to go out and on the way back decided to pickup the tickets  from Travel Center.At 19:40 finished dinner and left home. Reached the bus parking opp Model School back gate and was surprised to see that the bus was not there. Later realized that the bus does Kazhakootam pickup. So by 19:50 the bus arrived and was reversed into the parking. There was a slight drizzle , so got in and asked Dad and sister to leave. This was the pairing bus. The interiors were pretty neatly maintained. (Again rexine seats). The ticket were checked and we started at 20:00 exactly. The driver was in uniform and even had a name plate.

We had a few pickups at TVS, balaramapuram and Neyattinkara. we had no pickups in Marthandam, was a little surprised as most buses get at least 5-6 seats here. We reached Nagercoil at 22:00. Got off the bus for a bio-break and got a bottle of water as well. We departed in 10 mins. There was  a small amount of confusion as the TC main office in Trichur had an issue with the computer and charting could not be done properly. But the person from TC who traveled in the bus till Tirunelveli managed the situation well.  We reached Kavalkinaru by 22:40 and hit Tirunelveli by 23:45. There were a few passengers who boarded from here. A total  of 26 Pax. I decided to have a word with the driver and then go and sleep off in the second last row. He told me that he was doing a single this trip. I was surprised to hear that anyways went back and got a blanket rolled up t, make my pillow and went off to sleep. Remember waking up to see a long line of vehicles at the Namakkal toll plaza, was too sleepy to even check the time.

Woke up at 06:20 and realised we were at the Krishnagiri toll. Nice timings!! He had done 500 Kms in 6 hours 15 min, that too in a bus locked at 90. Then it was the regular drive through Hosur and BETL . Reached madiwala at 07:45.  Took an rick and was back home.

The fare charged on both ways is 1000. This is among the cheapest fares charged on the route. The buses have aged (I presume 3+ years now) but are maintained  decently. If not for the speed lock I am sure would have arrived by 8 at Trivandrum. The fare with Travel Center is generally market driven and varies according to demand, but according to me is a value proposition comparing the prices others charge on peak days.

Hebron Transports B9R TRV-BLR

It was Diwali time and I had gotten tickets for onward journey in Kallada G4 (rather SK then) , it was getting difficult to get return tickets. This is when I called up the Hebron Chennai office to see if they have any tickets for Monday(04th November 2013). They asked me to call back after a few days . In the meanwhile I saw the listing for a last row seat on Tuesday.

The bus just after delivery in Feb 2013. Image courtesy Binai Shankar.

Tuesday afternoon I was in Madiwala to get my onward tickets,on the way back I decided to stop by at Hebron office. After a brief chit chat he issued me two tickets for monday at a fare of Rs1300 per seat.  This on a date when most operators were selling at 1650 and more. Got back home and left by that nights G4 to Trivandrum . The operational levels at G4 have dropped. The 21:30 bus departed from Madiwala by only 22:10 and reached Trivandrum by 9:45.

On Moday called by Hebron Chennai office to enquire if they do non stop or if they do stop for dinner. They provided me with the Trivandrum agents number. Unfortunately this number was switched off through the Day. Called back to the Chennai iffice in the evening and confirmation with somebody was told that they do stop for dinner. So left home at 18:45 and had a stop over to hand over some documents. Did that and got to music college around 19:15.

I was greeted by Arul,  a regullar driver with hebron who has been driving the Chennai service almost since inception. We had a small cit chat. Left the luggage in the boot, and got into our seats. 9 and 10 RHS third row seats. The bus had AC on and was very pleasant . There was also some freshener used. As we got seated the attendant came around and handed half liter bottles of bisleri and packed shawl(bed sheet). This has been one great thing with Hebron. Providing washed and clean sheet in a nice cover. I had a chat with Arul and he told me that they normally have been doing non stop, but said he will be happy to stop for dinner if there is a place.

Some people were boarded for the UFX to chennai , as the bus does not have a KL permit and was waiting in Nagercoil. We waited till 19:45 as two seats were yet to arrive, and we left without these seats. This was the second run of the bus and there was a bit of confusion with the travel agent guy running around and checking tickets and reconfirming them. Even for small adjustments he was running around. Later realized that one of the booking guys had given the wrong seat numbers to a ticket and the real occupants had arrived late. The travel guy asked them to board the next private bus to Nagercoil and said we will wait there.

We picked up a few seats and exited from Marthandam. We reached Nagercoil and near Vetoornimadam and got all the UFX passengers alighted. This wasted a good 10 minutes. Then we got in the Private bus stand in Nagercoil . I got out for a bio break and was roaming around, when I noticed a small hotel had come within the premises. Took 1 plate of parotta for wife. It tasted pretty decent.

There was a lot of post diwali rush and an enraged(and drunk) agent even threatened the driver  for refusing seats . The driver just laughed it off. By ow time was 10 and we were waiting for the G4 fromtrivandrum to arrive with the two passengers. The bus arrive at 22:20 PM and there were 2 ladies,  they stood near the door and started shouting at the drivers. The drivers just kept mum. It kept on going for more than 5 minutes. Finally lost my cool ,walked to the front and told the ladies to board the bus , and we can discuss it . Also told them that will give them Hebron Chennai Head office number . They still continued shouting and said you need to not bother to involve in the conversation as this does not affect you. it was over 10 mins since they had arrived and there was seemingly no end to it. Walked up near the door and said please get in if you want to otherwise we are leaving , as over 40 people were waiting for the past half an hour for them to board , and were getting delayed for no reason. I had my hand on the door open/close knob, this finally did the trick.

I still feel bad that I had to behave in such a fashion to a third person , that too to a par of ladies. We left Nagercoil at 22:40(Over 3 hours for the first 70 kms). Unfortunately these ladies were sitting right behind me and started conversing in Hindi. I immediately realized that  they were from bihar. Their dialect and slang was clear, they were calling up all their relatives and blaming that bus had bit been in front of music college and had departed from some 'dingra road' . I was just laughing within myself thinking 'When you do not know something some people do not just shut up'. As we neared kavalkinaru arul called me to the front and asked my help in locating the hotel. I guided him to the one in the HP fuel station . The break was a short one for about 20 min.

The bus just after delivery in Feb 2013. Image courtesy Binai Shankar.

We left the hotel at 23:25 PM having covered only about 90 Kms of our 700+ KM journey.  Now the ladies behind me had an issue when I reclined the seat to sleep. They were like "I can not move my legs , so you recline your seat half only". I completly lost it. I said "I am putting it to normal recline , I need to sleep and need to be in office next day". If it were a bunch of guys they would have possibly  got a proper verbal lashing from me.

On the  4 lane the bus was flying. We reached tirunelveli vannarpet at 23:45 and went in for pickup to the old bus stand. We left tirunelveli and I went off to sleep. We passed Salem at about 4:30 and got past Hosur at 6:30. This is waht I recall in between my sleep. We were passing the Attibelle toll at 6:40 I decided to book my Meru at 7:15 from madiwal . In 2 min were stopped for RTO checking. I cancelled my cab and steeped off the bus. The cleaner told me Arul had got off the bus and had asked him to inform me. All the buses were there including theKPN's, SK , G4, SLS  etc.

We finally left attibele at 7:35 and reached maidwala by the BETL by 8:10. It was amazing driving by the pair. We had taken about 12:30 end to end , but if not for the wasted time this would have been a 10:30 or 11 hour trip. Hebron has done a good job on bus maintenance and on board  amenities. The sector though is witnessing high competition with increased number of operators, If they can maintain the standards they will become among the best in this route.

PS: I do not hold ay prejudice towards Biharis ( have a quite a number of friends from Bihar),these are events as happened.

Puratasi Visit to Tirumala

SRS Tirupathi Package
Bus: KA01 AC 5125 (Volvo B9R Seater)
Start Time : 22:30/00:05
Return Time: 21:30/21:15
Fare    : 1400(got 5% discount on redbus so was 1330)x2


I am a regular visitor to the Thirupathi Balaji temple. Normally it is on the KaSRTC volvos. Due to the anti-telangana agitation KaSRTC and APSRTC services have all been cancelled. So decided to take an package option. So the choices were between SRS, Rajesh, Seabird and Greenline. Have done trips with Rajesh and SRS before and so booked 2 seats on the SRS Service as my wife was going to be with me.
The boarding point I chose was Indiranagar with a 22:30 boarding.


Around 18:30 I received an call from SRS Race course road office, informing of a delayed departure. He told me due to the Anti telgnana the bus coming from Tirupati was delayed by 1 hour and the bus was scheduled to leave from Race course road by only 11:30 or so. He asked me whee i live ? when I told him he suggested that since Indiranagar was a road side pickup , I could better go to the race course road office or KR puram office and wait there. I told him I will think and let him know . He said he will call me in 10 min .

In 10 min got the call from the same guy. Told him will come to Anandrao circle. I also got a confirmation message with the revised departure time and boarding point. I booked an Meru at 22:45 to ARC. But I was so happy for having chosen , SRS. This was where the guy in SRS office was able to turn an 1 hour late departure in to a positive feeling for me.

We left home by 22:40 and headed through to SRS Race course road  office. The office is loacted in the Swiss complex , which houses the office of Rajesh, Seabird(itdc) etc.  Told my seat numbers and the office guy gave me an ticket print out and asked me to wait.  My wife used the wash room and told me it was pretty neat. I chatted up with the manager and he pulled up the system and showed me the GPS info of the bus. He also told me that it being September 30, most buses would have their interstate permit end , so there may be a lot of changes to happen in the next few days. Just past 23:30 the bus passed on the opposite direction towards ARC for dropping and picking passengers.

The bus arrived at 23:55 and left in a quick 10 min. I had booked seat numbers 1 and 2. As we sat down, the attendant handed  out half liter water bottles  along with biscuit pack and namkeens. We drove through the city getting straight to tin factory. Here we picked up two passengers. This was the cleaner and the driver shouting for passengers. Also heard the driver tell the cleaner to tell the SRS office guy in KRpuram and pay him his cut of Rs 200. We reached KRpuram SRS office by 00:25 and the bus was full. worst they had 1 extra passenger on the bus . The passenger was accommodated in the cleaners seat and the cleaner was sitting on the gangway. This was really irritating for me as I could not stretch my legs .  In this regard VRL is the only service where I never found crew being greedy to get some money by picking passengers.

We reached Tirupathi by 04:30. The bus was stopped at Adithya residency hotel (http://www.adithyaresidency.in/index.php). The package passengers were asked to disembark here. We were given an room for an hour to have and shower and get ready. By 5:30 people assembled and we left to Alamelumangapuram temple. The guide informed everyone that we would need to pay Rs 25 per head for special entry tickets to the temple. Payed the money and got to have an early morning Darshan of Goddess Padmavathi. Had very divine darshan and walked out.Now we got back on to the bus and we were taken back to the hotel for breakfast. Breakfast was idli,Vada, dosa, upma and coffee/tea. After having a hearty bfast we got back on to the bus .

We drove on to Alipiri, at the base of the hills. Here we shift in to a APSRTC ghat eligible bus. One of the biggest problems in Tirupathi because of strike is the less number of buses operating on the Ghats. They had a APSRTC bus waiting for them outside and we were transferred to this bus.After the 30 of us boarded the bus went in to the Alipiri bus stand and the few remaining  seats were occupied  and then the the APSRTC staff  had to shout at standing passengers to get down. We cleared through security check at Alipiri at 07:10 and proceeded towards tirumala. We reached Tirumala by 08:20 and were dropped at the Ram bageecha bus stand. Here they distributed the money for the tickets and then took us to the queue. (Another guy took the people who wanted to shave their heads, got it done and bought them back.

We were in the queue at about 8 :45 and the queue had stretched all the way up to the shopping complex. The queue started moving only by 9:30  and it moved at food pace. By around 10 is while we were near the ATC(alwar tank cottages)stairs the queue was stopped for almost and hour and we sat down. TTD served pilgrims with hot milk and upma or Khara Bath over here.The queue started moving only by around 11:10. After this we went through the path in ATC towards the Alwar Tank and after crossing through the FOB. Here too the queue kept moving pretty fast and were into Vaikuntam 1 ticket counter by 11:45. Took the tickets and went through. Here by chance met with an TTD employee who was known to me from before.He told me that today being that last Tuesday before Brhamotsavam starts it was day for tirumanjanam(ritual cleaning of the temple with 8 herbs) and the temple would open to pilgrims by 12:00 only.   He took us ( me and wife) to the end of the queue complex near the stairs. Here there was very little crowd as only one queue was open. We quickly moved through and went in to the temple with no pushing or pulling(after a long time).

Inside the temple it was a Divine experience as the temple smelled of Camphor and all the other herbs. Darshan was peaceful!!!

 After this came out and got Sharkarpongal (sweet pongal) for prasdam. The previous day being Ekadeshi there was dosa also being sold. We got a couple as well.  Walked out and got the Ladoos. (Had asked the guide to get extra ladoos so could avoid that huge crew). From here walked to the Woodside Restaurant next to the SV Museum for lunch. Had an amazing andhra Style lunch. Then took an Jeep and got back to Ram Bageecha bus stand. We were the first people to be there.  Later we left  for Tirupathi by APSRTC. We reached Alipir by 14:45 . Here we boarded the SRS B9R and were taken to Aditya Residency for Lunch. On the way to the hotel the guide requested us to pay Rs 20 per person to pay off the APSRTC drivers due to the strike.Payed him. We waited in the reception as people went to finish lunch and came back. We started back from Aditya Residency at 3:40  and left to the bus stand .

We picked up passengers from SRS office near the bus stand and left for Bangalore at 16:00. Here the driver first was asked to go through Madnapalee by the guide , but later he followed the Seabird and other volvos through the regular Chittor route. i was tired and slept off for some time.   By the time I woke up , we were on the Chitoor bye-pass , but it was 17:45 , some delay might be at the Level crossing is what i guessed. I was a little tense as the 'Telegana' issue was still boiling in Chittoor and surrounding areas, and had heard about an VRL BLR-Vijaywada service being stoned near Bangarupalyam 2 days back. We though were not stopped any where on the way though. We proceeded slowly through Bangarupalayam and Palmneer and crossed in back to Karnataka by 18:45. a little past this we stopped at hotel Sri Lakshmi Sagar at 19:00 and we left at 19:20. We crossed Kolar by 20:05 and was dropped at old madras road /80 feet road intersection at 21:00.

By 21:15 was back home after a divine Darshan. 

2 in 1 Review Kesineni B11R Mumbai -Bangalore\Sharma B9R Shirdi-Bangalore

At 4 Crossed the road from Peninsula to wait in front of the Reliance World. Tried using the Kesineni SMS based bus tracking service, but was faulty on that day.Called up the number provided for boarding point and was told the bus was on time. At 4:10 saw an B9R coming and was for a second disappointed, just then the black B11R (4509)followed close behind. the b9r started calling out for Hyderabd passengers , while I boarded my bus and we started moving immediately as I was the lone pickup . My seat number was 52, the first row LHS aisle seat. Then it was a vary fast and rash drive through Mumbai traffic to hit Kalamboli by 5:40. I presume the Shivneris were only driving worse than our driver. We hit the Express way and it was smooth sailing. We had picked up few Pune bound passengers at Kalamboli. We arrived at Wakad by 7 and dropped a few passengers . Again rushed through the Pune by-pass and got in Khatraj. Here we picked up some more passengers and the bus had about 23 passengers in all. We left Khatraj by around 7:50 and started getting up the ghats.

An file shot of the Kesineni B11R. Image Courtesy Binai Shankar.

At around 8:30 we stopped for dinner at a hotel, at a place called shivpur. This was a mallu run place with so-so food and below average cleanliness. We left this place by around after a not so quick break. We started going up the ghats and midway through found the driver being too cautious and driving much slower. At the end of the ghats he took the bus off the road and stopped it in the shoulder. The driver and the cleaner got off, I presumed for a Bio break or for loading parcels. After a few min i too got off the bus. I saw the driver and the cleaner checking the rear tire. I walked up to them and asked them if it was an puncture, and the driver said no it was an suspension issue. The time was about 9:40 PM.

The driver and the cleaner started doing all their tricks. First they tried jacking up the bus so that one person can go under and move the suspension balloons back in place. I asked the driver to call up Kesineni office and also Volvo to get support. He called some guy and said that Volvo guy from Pune is coming.Then the next plan was to increase the height at the rear by making the back wheel stand on a small rock. Some how both did not get them the result. So they started removing the steerable back tire to get access to the balloon. After a while they put this back on and removed the other wheels and started using an screw driver to nudge the balloon back in place. The time was close to 11:30 , I called up the Kesineni help desk and after a lot of haggling they said , they are still searching for alternatives and they would refund my fare, If i took my one option.

Now I was in 2 minds, weather to cross the road and take some transport to Pune(70 Kms away) and then take an early morning flight back home or to wave down another bus and continue the journey on road. I started waving down any buses that came on the road, then realized that we were at a curve and that too at the end of a down gradient. Kept waving my hand and was at least a 15 VRL buses flying past. A few ACC's and SRS also went by without bothering to stop. Then an ACC slowed down and I also started running when he took off again. Finally by around 11:50 an Sharma bus stopped . Ran up to the driver and spoke to him . He wanted 1000 Rs to Bangalore and told him it was okay . Went got my bag and boarded the bus. Opened my wallet and realised that I had only around 900 Rs on me. Gave the driver a 700 and told him will get the rest from an ATM in Bangalore.( I was so cross with myself, I normally always carry at least 1500~2000 in my wallet while traveling. That day had the same amount but decided to pay cash for sweets and a lot of lonavala chickki ).

We left at 11:50 PM from this place(about 40 KM before Satara), And I was given an seat in the 10th row aisle on RHS. Switched on the GPS to see the drivers doing a max of around 80 ~90 Kms. Decided to inform home and switch off the phone as the battery was only half full. Around 4:30 in the morning we stopped outside Belgaum in a Mallu run hotel . I just got out for a bio break, and spoke to the driver. He told me that the bus was a Shirdi-Bangalore 4 PM service, he also told me that the bus normally reaches Bangalore by 12 noon. Decided to get back and sleep.

The next stop was fro breakfast near Chitrdurga. This was at about 8 AM. This place had 2 other Sharma Volvo's standing including a B11R doing Mumbai - Bangalore. There were also a lot of KSRTC buses standing here. The hotel looked pretty OK. I decided not to eat anything and just had an tender coconut. We wasted a lot of time in this place and left after a good 40 minutes. We left this place by only 9 and it was pretty okay driving. The bus made small noises , but was among the worse B9Rs I had seen in terms of interiors. Not a single mat in the bus including at the door, meant it was full of dust. The seats were dirty and I never though about using the sheet that was there. The driver of course was sleeping in the belly of the bus.

Finally reached Yeshwantpur by 12:40 and took a route through West of chord road and got dropped off in front of the Railway divisional office at 1:20.I got off and reached the ARC Kesineni office along with 2 other passengers. Kesineni guys in the office said they have not heard from head office so can not provide us with the refund. Called up the Kesineni helpline number and was told that they would call back the next day and confirm about the refund. I was so tired, so decided to leave and get back next day for the refund.

Ajmer and Back to Mumbai

I have written about my BLR-BOM by VRL Ishift Sleeper. Then it was to Ajmer/Pushkar and return by train. This was on the Daddar Ajmer Express. Nothing great to write about other than the fact that I tried out 'travelkhanna.com'. The Veg thali at both Vadodara and Ajmer were really good at Rs 120 . Both had 4 Ghee Phulkas, 1 Paneer Sabji, 1 Dal and 1 Dry Subji(Bhindi) , Jeera rice , Salad  and Jamoon. Both served to my coach ,Awesome experience.

My experience at the Dargah is to personal to be written about here.

So on the 10th reached back Daddar by afternoon. Had booked on the Kesineni B11R from sion by 4:15. Had a quick shower and change at the upper class waiting hall. Then went out and had a small soup and starter and spent some time at the Ramee opposite the station. Wanted to try out the good old fiat taxi's of Mumbai , so skipped a few Santros and got in to a fiat and straight to Sion. Went to Ghasitaram at sion picked up some sweet an reached the circle. found a nice South Indian restaurant called 'peninsula' and had nice dosa. This helped me wait till 4 inside the restaurant, and also enjoy a very nice Garlic Masala Dosa.

Then for my return to Bangalore was the wait for Kesineni B11R

Bangalore Mumbai B9R Sleeper

It was a mannat I asked the Kwhaja during my last visit, It was time to go back and thank him for the favors he had endowed on to me.

Since it was a last minute decision flights were out of the question. Trains would take 48 hours anyways I have long wanted to try out Bangalore - Mumbai by a B9r for long.

 I had my trip to Mumbai from Bangalore lined up for 7th August. I had booked on VRL i Shift Sleeper with a 4PM Anand Rao Circle departure after some help from Busmatterz and BCMT member suggestions. The seat number was L5 the first single lower berth . On 7th left Indiranagar at 3 PM and took an Meru to ARC. The journey was uneventful and reached by 3:45.

Veera built Non AC sleeper cum seater.

A GJ registered I-shift Sleeper of VRL.

Veera built Non AC sleeper cum seater(white) along with Veera built Seater.

This was my first visit to the VRL ARC 'Bus stand'. I was pleasantly surprised with the kind of facilities there. The waiting area though spartan had enough fans and charging points. There were 2 or 3 enquiry counters and a similar number of Booking counter. The were at least 3 stalls selling snack and food. Including one stall from Omkar,'Which i realized is VRL group owned food business'. Got a bottle of water from there. The wash rooms were pretty ok considering the location. What impressed me most was that they had an Mother care room for mothers with infants.

Baby Care room , what an initiative!

An regular multiaxle came for pickup around 4 . I realized that this was the 3:30 PM ARC Mumbai service. I waited , and my bus arrived by 4:20 . This was a little bad. Boarding started soon. I left my bag in the boot of the bus and boarded. Chatted with the driver and went and sat in my seat. We departed by 4:40 PM. We had pickups at Rajaji nagar, Yashwantpur and Tumkur. The first driver was a 50 year old one , who told me he has been driving for the past 28 years. His driving style was pretty sedate, on the four lane stetch kept doing around 90-100. Not too much honking.

My bus!!

The interiors of the bus was nice. Veera which has built the sleepers for VRL has done a good job on some aspects. The door making it a separate driving cabin though is a safety issue, credit to the crew for never locking the door though. The berth on one side has an 10 or 12 inch LCD screen with a power switch. On the other side it has got an plug point, with a pouch for holding the mobile,a LED bright night lamp, a speaker with a switch. The switch for the speaker ensures that you can switch it on and off and decide if you want to listen to movie/music. A total of 3 movies were played, 2 in the night and 1 post Pune in the morning.

AV inside the bus.

After the pickups the bus was non stop till the VRL checkpoint/restaurant at Chitradurga, we reached ther by 8:45. (I was happy we did not waste time at the Tumkur check point). The Chitradurga check point is pretty huge. A small restaurant was in one side. I had dinner there , a little too spicy , but okay food. VRL seems to have invested a lot of money in these check points. This one had about 30~40 toilets each for men and women. We left this place by 9:05.

I tried sleeping for some time and then decided to sit in the cabin. I asked the driver and he was okay with the idea. He told me that they stop outside hubli for refueling and then Kholapur checkpoint for driver change. I was chatting with the driver for quite some time, and he was talking about VRl placing orders for another 60 Multiaxle volvos, he was not sure if they were B9rs or B11Rs . Stopped outside Hubli at a petrol pump and filled in around 320 liters of diesel. Around 12 when the bus gout out of the Hubli bypass decided to go and sleep.

Woke up around 3:10 and realized the bus was at the VRL kholapur check point. Went back to sleep . Woke up when the bus reached Pune and the crew was calling out for passengers to get down. I looked at my watch the time was 6. It took us some time to drive through the pune bypass and get into the Expressway. It was almost 7 when we got into the expressway. Got in to a lot of traffic near the Lonaval ghat. I saw a couple of fresh accidents on the way. After desceding the ghats the drive was smooth, and we stopped near the toll for a bio break and started back quickly. We reached Kalamboli by almost 8:15 or so. From here we were stuck in weekday morning traffic. We reached Sion by 10:30 AM.

All in all a pretty decent service. I presume a 2:30 PM ARC departure with a 6:30 or 7 AM Sion arrival would be possible with same fuel efficiency and max speeds. As the bus will save at least an hour on traffic at both Bangalore and Mumbai.

Kallada G4 Trivandrum Bangalore

This is my review of Kallada G4 volvo multiaxle from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore
TRAVELS:Kallada G4
BUS:VOLVO MULTIAXLE
SCHEDULED DEPT:8:30pm(actual:8 30pm)
SCHEDULED ARRV:6:30am(actual:6 40am)
BOARDING PT:Music College
Dropping PT      :Madiwala
FARE:1100
Bus No KA-01-AB-7438

The just delivered Bus.

I was planning to try out the KPN sleeper for my return. But I did not find time to go and book my ticket and did not want to just pay 95 extra to book online(1300 if booked at KPN office and 1395 if booked online). Also the g4 phone booking number on the ticket , made me feel like I want to try it out.This though turned out to be an anti climax.

I called on the number given on the ticket(09387070000).I am not sure why this number is printed as a centralized number and then not used as one. I told him my travel plans, he informed me to call an different number(086606045000). This i realized was their trivandrum office number. I called on the number and was told the person had gone to arrange departure of a bus ,and was promised a call back. In 15 mins got a call and confirmed my seat. Asked fro seat number 4 (First rowLHS) my favourite seat on volvo. He told me that 4 was reserved for driver and he would speak to the driver and get the seat made available.I said any seat would do in that case.

Over the next day I got 3 calls to confirm that I was traveling on the said date. Finally left home at 8:05 on Saturday and reached music College junction by 8:10 and the bus arrived by 8:15 PM. I waited for most people to board the bus. There was a lot of confusion over here as people were waiting for the suresh kallada Sleeper Benz also at 8:30, but the drivers and cleaner guided people after checking their tickets.

I was among the last to board the bus, paid the money to the office buy and he gave me a ticket. The crew were the same people that I had met on my onward journey. one driver though said he would be getting off and going home and a different driver will get in. the seat number allotted was 1, I hate RHS seats, so went to the second last row and sat there comfortably.We departed on time at 8:30. Movie Kakha Kakha was played.We had a few pickups at Vedivachankoil, Neyyatinkara, past we reached Nageroil at 10:20. Here we had a small leak and coffee break. Only 1 person joined the bus over here.

We left around 10:35 from Nagercoil and I remember us entering the 4 lane road at Kavalkinaru at 11:05 post which the driver started doing 3 digit numbers on the speedo. As we passed the first toll plaza, I went off to sleep. I woke up in fits and starts every now and then. Finally somebody tapped and woke me up. It was the second driver and he asked me if i wanted to get down in Madiwala. That is when I realized that we had reached madiwala and time was 6:40 AM. thanked the drivers, got off and took an auto back home.

Overall Excellent bus,Excellent Timings/Punctuality, Only scope of improvement is the phone booking process.

Kallada G4 to Trivandrum

This is my review of Kallada G4 volvo multiaxle from Bangalore to Thiruvananthapuram
TRAVELS:Kallada G4
BUS:VOLVO MULTIAXLE
SCHEDULED DEPT:9:30pm(actual:9 35pm)
SCHEDULED ARRV:7:30am(actual:7 25am)
BOARDING PT:Madiwala
Dropping PR:Killipalam, Trivandrum
FARE:1100
Bus No KA-01-AB-7438

I had decided to travel on the 20th March 2013, as I had a planned visit to Sabarimala on the next day. I called up angel travels and booked my tickets on Monday.

On the day of travel I left early and went to Mad Over Doghnuts at koramangala for a event. Downed a few and then packed some for home and walked over to Angel picked my tickets and walked off to the petrol pump. Had a dosa for dinner at Cauvery and was back at the petrol pump by 9:10. My seat number was 11 but confirmed with the friends travels guy and took on seat on the second last row. Both the drivers were ex-bharathi, kind of knew both of them.

Most of the people had arrived by 9:20 but we waited for one passenger and finally left at 9:35. He went round through StJohns- Krupanidhi college-Madiwala market route and then got back to the main road and took the elevated expressway. Movie 'Sachein' was played. The back screen was not opened though.After 19 minutes one of the passengers opened the second screen. Again g4 has put up a new small display with their website address. This is a nice innovation.

We reached Hosur by 10:25 and we took the route through Rayakottai and Palacode. The road was very mediocre but the driver kept decent pace. We reached the L&T Toll plaza(Past Dharmapuri) at 12:00 and left after a quick 5 minutes bio break. Here is when I went to sleep. Woke up around 3 AM at the thirumangalam toll plaza(about 280 Kms in 3 hours!!!). I could see a Parveen Merc right next to us. Later we stopped in front of the Tirumangalam bus stop for a 10 minute Bio/tea break. The first driver got off the bus(to go home) and the second driver took to the wheels.

I went back to sleep and remember the bus passing through nagercoil around 6:50 AM. the driver started doing decent speeds on the single lane roads as well. Only in 1 or 2 overtakes he was rash. At 7:25 i was dropped at Killipalam, less than a KM to Thampanoor so was sure it would meet the 7:30 arrival time.

All in all excellent drive, and good to see the effort of  Kallada G4 guys to ensure the buses are fueled up before departure and don not waste any time at all. Way to go Santhej and team.