Blr - Hyd - Mum - Blr This was a round trip which was good only in the comfort aspects and also changed my perception about VRL.
BLR - HYD: Dhanunjaya Travels Volvo 2+1 Semi-sleeper
My round trip began on friday evening. Since all the known options - Orange, VRL, Dhanunjaya Sleeper, HKB were all full, I booked this service that showed up in Dhanunjaya's website. I had chosen to board the bus from BTM Layout.
Scheduled Time of boarding: 20:40hrs
Actual time of boarding: 21:10hrs
Scheduled time of arrival at Hyd: 06:00hrs
Actual time of arrival at Hyd: 05:50hrs
Cost: Rs.1300
The bus was an old Volvo B7R Mark-II. The original seats were replaced with Harita seats, in 2+1 configuration. Mine was a 4th row single seat on the left side. The seats were cramped, as they'd squeezed some 36 seats. The bus showed its age with a good amount of engine noise inside, and some occasional squeaks. I expected a charging point, but didn't find one. No water bottles provided. Blanket was clean. Since I slept well, and had boarded after having dinner, I didn't know if they'd stopped anywhere for a break.
Two crappy Telugu movies were played. Found solace in my music collection to escape the noise pollution.
The bus dropped me at Mehdipatnam at 05:50hrs. No complaints regarding the timing. The crew were also helpful. At Rs.1300, this was not bad.
HYD - MUM: VRL Volvo Multi-axle Semi-sleeper
I wanted to reach Vashi as early as possible on monday morning. After reading the very helpful replies from TKMCE and binaiks, I wanted to book HKB, but I was already booked in a VRL service that would pick me up from Gachibowli at 17:30hrs. I expected them to be punctual with the time of arrival in Vashi, since their MUM-BLR service was heard to be really good.
Scheduled time of pick-up: 17:30hrs
Actual time of pick-up: 17:45hrs
Scheduled time of arrival at Vashi: 07:30hrs (according to driver)/06:30hrs (according to the Call centre exec)
Actual time of arrival at vashi: 08:20hrs
Cost: Rs. 1235
The bus had around 3L km on the odo, but maintained well. Clean interiors, and blankets. The crew were cordial and helpful. It had a charging point, so I could listen to music all along the trip. They played two movies, one in full, and the other one was stopped halfway, as it was already midnight.
Dinner break was at 22:10hrs, at a horrible place, very much like the infamous Hotel Utthaiya near Krishnagiri. It was too expensive for the kind of food. No rest rooms. And, arrogant waiters. This was about an hour and a half after passing Bidar. The bus had deviated from the highway and got inside Bidar town for pick-up. Lost a good amount of time crawling behind truck traffic and also because of bad roads.
The bus was cruising at 80kmph for most part of the journey, and rarely did it touch 100kmph (until it hit the Pune-Mum expressway). The bus deviated from the highway at Indapur, and got on some interior roads to join the highway at Pune. There were a few people who got down at Pune. Hit the Expressway at 05:50hrs. Stopped for fuel at an HP fuel station somewhere near Lonawala. Lost another half an hour there. And finally got dropped at Vashi at 08:20hrs. It was only on the Pune-Mum expressway that the bus started cruising at 100kmph. Seemed to me that it was speed-locked at 100.
MUM - BLR: VRL Volvo Multi-axle Semi-sleeper
My intention was to leave Bombay as late as possible, and be back in Bangalore by afternoon. After reading all reviews and suggestions here, especially from TKMCE and binaiks, I booked the VRL 19:30hrs service that would reach Vashi at 22:00hrs, and arrive in Bangalore by 13:00hrs. However, the Hyd-Mum trip left a not so great impression about VRL. Hence I didn't pin my hopes high. Since it was Christmas day, I didn't bother about he time arrival too.
Scheduled time of pick-up: 22:00hrs
Actual time of pick-up: 22:50hrs
Scheduled time of arrival in Blr: 13:00hrs
Actual time of arrival in Blr: 16:20hrs
Cost: Rs.1425
The bus was well maintained, and comfortable. There was a charging point provided. The crew were good, though not as much as the one in the Hyd-Mum bus. There were two drivers, and the first seat on the LHS was converted to a permanent berth for the second driver, just like the other bus. I liked this idea, of loosing just one seat in place of 4 or 5 seats if they'd converted the last row of seats into a berth for the spare driver, like KPN.
Since I've never been to Mumbai, I reached the pick-up point in Vashi, which just mentioned Vashi Plaza, at 21:30hrs. Noticed a couple of VRL buses picking up people from near the Vashi signal, and one bus from under the fly-over, again near the signal. So i moved to that location. Since I didn't find my bus even after 22:40hrs, I rang up the customer care. The person who attended to me said that he'd contact the driver and tell me the exact location of the bus in a few minutes. Within two minutes, he called me back informing that the bus would be there soon. At around 22:48hrs, I got a call from the driver, asking me where I was. I'd barely walked a hundred feet to see if my bus was one among the many that had pulled up in a row. My bus was waiting under the flyover. The driver who called me was not too happy about the call he got from the call centre.
Slept off soon after I boarded. Woke up at 07:30hrs only to find that we still had a very long way to go. The bus stopped at 08:05hrs at a Kamat Cafe in Dharwad for breakfast. The place was decent in every way, except the little-bit cranky waiters. The drivers had made sure that everyone got down from the bus, turned off the engine, and had locked the doors. Resumed journey at 08:45hrs.
The next break was at 12:15hrs at a VRL station in Chitradurga. There was a small hotel, which served decent food. Though it was meant to be a fuelling break, the small queue at the fuel pump meant that the break extended for half an hour. Hit the highway at 12:45hrs.
The bus was not doing anything above 80kmph. Not even once did it touch 100kmph. They'd played two Hindi movies during the day. Finally got dropped off at Anand Rao circle at 16:20hrs.
Will I choose VRL again? Not quite. In fact I'd stay away from any bus in the Mum-Blr sector. In the other routes, maybe. But I won't go for VRL blindly like I did this time. |