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