27th March 2012, 09:04
| #1591 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Bangalore
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27th March 2012, 13:25
| #1592 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: KL-47 // KL-53
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| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Just did a round trip to Hyderabad from Bangalore. The journey was decided at a very short notice and hence ticketing was interesting. I had to be in Hyderabad on March 25 (Sunday) - and this message reached me on March 21 (Wednesday). Friday being Ugadi, all buses on Sunday (from Hyderabad to Bangalore) were sold out - there were just a few "special" buses by private operators, who were quoting unbelievable rates (non-ac buses being sold for 2000 rupees!). I booked on an APSRTC Garuda Plus from Bangalore to Hyderabad (traveling on March 24) and return by KSRTC Airavat from Hyderabad to Bangalore (March 26, DAY service from HYB to BLR). I wanted to be in Hyderabad maximum by 7AM - so did not take the risk of booking in an Airavat Club Class (I find their drivers very unpredictable). I had an option of choosing between three Garuda Plus buses - departing at 20:30 (BNG-Nizamabad), 20:30 (Mysore-Secundrabad) and 22:15 hrs (Bangalore-Hyderabad). The Nizamabad service gets a Mercedes Multi-Axle - I am not a big fan of the Merc buses, and hence did not want to book that service. Chose the 20:30 MYS-JBS (Secunderabad) service instead. I chose a seat in the middle of the bus, so that I am safe from the awkward window facing vents even if the bus turns out to be a Merc (it indeed was a merc). About the journey: Outbound by APSRTC Garuda Plus: AP-29-Z-2680 of Picket Depot (Secundrabad). The bus had about 19000kms on the odo. The bus turned up at Shantinagar BS only at 2043 (Scheduled Arrival: 2000hrs, dep: 2030hrs). Shantinagar is now a huge mess with the BS handling long distance services to Kerala, TN and AP. The departure platform is chocked completely and all buses were running late. APSRTC has a long queue of buses, which runs on the "First in First Out" policy - so, even if your bus is late, it would have to wait for the bus ahead to move out.  My bus was a Mercedes Benz Tri-Axle - thankfully, my seat was the middle of the bus (Seat #24). The seats at the middle do not have those ugly window AC vents - saving one from getting frozen. The bus had a very light load - just three passengers! Two came in from Mysore, and I was the third (the only passenger to board from Bangalore!). The crew did try to get some extra passengers - but being a Saturday on a long weekend, every bus was turning out with very poor loads. We left Shantinagar at 2112 hrs (late by 42 minutes). The conductor came in a checked my ticket well before the journey commenced - I had an e-ticket, so this guy had to cross check the ticket number with the one on the chart and verified by ID proof. The conductor was at the wheels as we pulled out of Shantinagar. The bus stopped near Kanteerava stadium for over 10 minutes to load parcels!! The crew tried their luck at Hebbal to get some passengers - but no luck. They tried again at Yelahanka, but no response. They stopped for a dinner break at 2305hrs (near the Karnataka-AP Border) - we started off at 2329hrs. The conductor was still at the wheels - this guy really meant business. The bus was continuously clocking 105-115kmph (on my GPS) all the time. The driving was sane - no sudden braking, very less use of horn, no sudden cuts. We had a private Merc (Diwakar Travels) for company for quite some distance. I had two seats to my disposal - hence slept well. The leg room appeared very tight - thankfully the seats ahead of mine were empty. The bus stopped again near Kurnool at night to unload parcels - driver changed happened here. The conductor headed to sleep, while the actual driver got to the wheels. This guy was slow - did not exceed 100. I was dropped off outside Hyderabad MGBS at 0529. (Scheduled arrival 0500hrs). 8 Hours 17 minutes for the 570kms run - not bad for APSRTC! They claim an 8:30 hrs running time! I was provided a Blanket and a 1ltr water bottle. They played a movie for some time - until the first disc got over. They did not waste time going into bus stations to get more passengers - they did waste about 20 minutes for loading/unloading parcels - but that was made up in the running time. The ticket rate was Rs. 958 (Rs. 900 + reservation + service charge). Return by KSRTC Airavat - KA-01-F-8507. Bangalore Depot-2. This bus had about 8.03 lakh kms on the odo.  The scheduled departure from Hyderabad MGBS was at 0635hrs (day service). The bus was brought in at 0615hrs. The service was full - 45/45 seats sold. As the bus came in, many passengers literally crowded around the crew. The conductor rushed to their office to get the reservation chart - about 2 seats were empty, and one passenger did not turn up. The bus left MGBS at 0637hrs. Since the bus was full at starting point itself, the crew did not delay the bus for getting more passengers, or try getting passengers on the way. We hit the highway quickly (the road is poor around the area where the ring road joins the highway - thats how I understood the layout). The driver did not exceed 90kmph anywhere. My seat (#37) was on the last-but-one row. Sun was directly on my side. So all curtains on this side were drawn - passengers quickly retired to sleep! We stopped for Breakfast at one "Yagnesh Virat Regency" at Jadcherla. The scheduled time to arrive there was 0800hrs (according to the ticket) - we reached at 0805hrs. The hotel had a "prepaid" policy for bus passengers - one had to bill their food first and collect it from the counters. We left from there at 0831hrs. The driver maintained speed constantly - the engine did not sound strained at that speed. The driver wasn't gearing properly, and hence the engine was getting lugged at every toll gate/speed breaker. We stopped at Kurnool (Bypass) at 1014hrs - a passenger got off here (i couldn't understand the scene - the conductor traveled standing from MGBS to Kurnool - so there were 46 passengers, i believe). The TV in the bus wasn't working - so no entertainment in the bus. Most passengers were snoring anyways - plus, I played the "guess-the-ringtone" game all the time, with phones ringing all the time. Most of the journey was spent sleeping - with the rest of the time spent listening songs on my phone. We stopped for Lunch at a hotel near the end of Penukonda bypass - 1258hrs. I skipped lunch (was not feeling like eating at all). The driver had left the engine running during the break, so I could take rest in the bus itself. Many passengers had brought their food from home. We left from the hotel at 1328. It was the driver at the wheels all the time - I usually see KSRTC crew exchanging their duties in between. This time, the driver was always at the wheels. There was awful traffic from Yelahanka to Hebbal (works on that elevated road) - we reached Hebbal at 1546hrs. The bus half emptied here. We made it to Majestic (KBS) at 1614hrs (Scheduled arrival 1605hrs). Phew! That was so good for a KSRTC Airavat! Arriving within 10mins of its scheduled time is seriously rare for them these days. The total journey time was 9:37hrs (scheduled is 9:35hrs). With a top speed of 90kmph, the driver surely did a good job. I am sure they can do the day journey in less than 9hours with a Multi-Axle. From what I understood, this bus has regular passengers every weekend! People who have to report to night shift at office have a very good option! The ticket rate was Rs. 681 (including reservation fees). I traveled in a 45-seater Volvo B7R after a long long time - I felt the seating was really tight. Since I was in the last-but-one row, it was getting really hot - heat from the engine, plus direct sunlight. The AC wasn't very cold - they reduced the temperatures after all of us in the back complained. In all, I'd recommend both the services. Hope APSRTC keeps the steam - faster and well-maintained buses will help them succeed on the route. |
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28th March 2012, 09:43
| #1593 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 566
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28th March 2012, 11:57
| #1594 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore
Posts: 402
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28th March 2012, 12:19
| #1595 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: KL-47 // KL-53
Posts: 1,830
Thanked: 1,163 Times
| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
The Ghats (Nadugani to Vazhakadavu) is bad in patches - not great in the TN side. Vazhikadavu to Wandoor is great. Not sure of the Wandoor-Perinthalmanna section. Perinthalmanna to Pattambi has some bad patches - not very bad though. Pattambi to Shoranur is excellent. | |
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28th March 2012, 12:33
| #1596 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
A couple of interesting ones which could be of help to you is AP tourism had 2 Merc buses, IRCTC had one Vovlo B7R, ITDC had a Volvo B7R in addition to the Via.com Multi axle. Never realised IRCTC was running a Volvo bus tour to Tirupati from Bangalore. | |
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28th March 2012, 13:28
| #1597 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Garden City
Posts: 1,798
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| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
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30th March 2012, 06:47
| #1598 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore
Posts: 402
Thanked: 27 Times
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31st March 2012, 11:28
| #1599 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Garden City
Posts: 1,798
Thanked: 519 Times
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2nd April 2012, 19:30
| #1600 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: KL-47 // KL-53
Posts: 1,830
Thanked: 1,163 Times
| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Did an Ernakulam-Hyderabad journey by bus last Thursday (March 29, 2012). A short review: The bus: AP-31-TB-6868 of Kesineni Travels. The bus was delivered in November 2011, and had already clocked about 1.25lakh kms.  The bus came to their Kadavanthra pick-up point (Starting point in Ernakulam) at 1342. It left dot on time at 1345hrs. 5 passengers from the starting point. There were two drivers and one attendant. The local travel agent was also in the bus. We reached Vyttila at 1358 and left at 1405 - 4 passengers joined here. The attendant got off at Edappally after handing over the trip sheet to the driver. One driver went to sleep by that time. They did not play any movie or music to allow the other driver to sleep. We picked up one more passenger at Aluva (1434 hrs). The driver maintained 70~80kmph all the time - hitting 90kmph only once (to overtake another vehicle). We maintained that pace till we crossed the toll gate at Paliekkara (the controversial gate). After the gate, the driver picked up speed, and maintained around 90kmph. A few minutes after our guy stepped on the gas pedal, he was caught by a speed interceptor for over speeding!!! We lost about 10 minutes at the check point (Rs. 400 penalty was charged). Mannuthy was reached at 1538 - one passenger got in. It was really heavy traffic after Mannuthy - road widening works plus heavy traffic meant that we never went above 70kmph throughout the stretch! Widening works are happening real quick. We reached Palakkad (bypass) at 1652 (3 passengers joined). There was one really nasty traffic block at Walayar Check post. We stopped for tea break after the last toll booth on Coimbatore bypass (Neelambur Toll Plaza) - at a bakery on the road side. The break was from 1821 to 1854. Passengers from Coimbatore (15 Pax) were brought in a minibus to this place. We had another pickup at Chithode (Erode bypass). We pulled into Saravana Bhavan (Sankari) for Dinner. We left here at 2125. There was another set of pickups at Salem (the bus goes inside the town). After adding 6 passengers here, we left salem at 2201. We now had 36 passengers! (Not at all bad for a working day! The driver said that they are consistently having 25+ passengers every day now). One of the two drivers got off at Bhavani. It was a single driver at the wheel from Coimbatore to Hyderabad (15+ hours!!!). The driver spent a lot of time in Salem, waiting for the new relief driver to come in (he finally never turned up). We crossed Krishnagiri around 2345hrs. The bus then took the Krishnagiri-Palmaner-Madanappalle-Dharmavaram-Anantapur route. We stopped at Dharmavaram for a tea break (0430 - 0443hrs). We dropped a passenger at Kurnool at 0644 hrs. The driver was really fast after he crossed Anantapur (from where the bus gets into the 4-laned roads again). We reached Shamshabad at 0904hrs. The bus then took the Outer ring road - the driver maintained 105~110kmph most of the time on this road. The bus reached Gachibowli at 0920hrs. Most passengers (including me) got off at Gachibowli - from here Kesineni runs a pick-up van which would drop passengers in various parts of the city. The actual bus heads to Kukatpally, where they have a garage. The total run time in the bus was 19:35hrs (1345hrs to 0920hrs). The bus covered around 1100-odd kms in this period. The fare was Rs. 1600 per head (end-to-end). The bus was really well-maintained - no squeaks or bad noises for a bus that has run 1.25lakh kms on average roads. Kesineni has been really doing a good job. According to the driver, Kesineni gets the most passengers on the route followed by Kallada. KPN has been struggling to get the loads - they recently reduced their fare to Rs. 1500 to get pax. Kesineni has been operating without a break since the service started - the driver was claiming that he once drove a trip with just 4 passengers on board! For the running time it offers, the bus is a superb option for the time conscious passenger (the trains takes 25hrs on the same route). Once the Avinashi-Walayar/Walayar-Mannuthy stretches are done, the running time would come further down. This was my longest by bus (the previous one being 18hrs from Bangalore to Mumbai in 2006, which was my first ever journey in a Volvo bus!). This bus also had those leather kind of seat covers - I felt they were more comfortable than the fabric ones. They also get less dirty. Overall: Recommended! |
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2nd April 2012, 20:08
| #1601 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
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3rd April 2012, 05:03
| #1602 | |
| BHPian  | Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
I thought of editing this pic and putting it in KeSRTC page on Facebook just to misguide KeSRTC fans , livery looks somewhat similar to RA 100-102 | |
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3rd April 2012, 06:23
| #1603 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chennai
Posts: 387
Thanked: 292 Times
| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
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3rd April 2012, 09:40
| #1604 | ||
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Electri-City
Posts: 2,361
Thanked: 2,223 Times
| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
Quote:
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3rd April 2012, 23:45
| #1605 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Pune
Posts: 1,033
Thanked: 741 Times
| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews Quote:
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