| Re: Intercity Bus travel reviews
A Two-way let down by Kallada Tours & Travels
Made a round-trip to my hometown last weekend. I was actually booked to take a bus on Saturday night from Bangalore - but a last moment itch made me cancel my Saturday booking, and pre-pone the trip to Friday evening!! I normally prefer the afternoon or early evening departures on Friday, but on that particular day, all of my preferred buses were sold out! With no options left out, I was looking at some astronomically priced special buses to Kerala, when I noticed a full row appearing empty on a Kallada service - not wasting any time, I lapped up a right side window seat in the last-but-one row of a B9R.
Outward: May 10, 2013
Kallada Tours & Travels (Suresh Kallada)
Service #B20 (Bangalore,Mysore-Kozhikode-Ernakulam)
Bus: KA-01-D-4186 (Volvo B9R Semi-Sleeper) - about 8.4lakh kms on the odo
I booked the ticket through a third party website and got a cool Rs. 110 discount on the booking (making the ticket slightly affordable at Rs. 1290, instead of Rs. 1400 on the Kallada website).
There was an Aadhaar enrollment drive at office, and it delayed by start a bit - dashed from office to home and had to rush through packing and getting ready. I left home at 1930hrs - the bus was at 2015hrs from Madiwala. The auto guy understood my desperation and did his best to beat the awful friday evening traffic - we did get held up at many points, and I was dropped outside the Kallada office behind "Staples" at 2005hrs. There was an unbelievable queue for getting boarding passes! I saw my contact sitting at the counter, and decided not to be a good citizen - walked in straight and got the boarding pass. The bus number on the pass read "4186" - I was a bit worried when I saw the number - reasons unknown for the worry.
The bus is usually parked at Madiwala, but on that day the bus was at their Garage near Kalasipalayam. So it had to beat all the traffic and reach Madiwala (I thought they'd put us in a pick-up van instead). The bus came at 2024hrs (for a departure at 2015hrs) and left at 2042hrs. The bus was more-or-less full from Madiwala itself. Thankfully, the crowd was very light towards the city. We reached Kalasipalayam at 2107hrs and left at 2116hrs. It was raining cats-and-dogs when we reached Kalasipalya and hence boarding was a messy affair. It rained all the time as the bus crawled through Mysore road - traffic was messy, as usual, till we crossed Kengeri. A movie was played in the meantime.
Coming to the bus, KA-01-D-4186 is the second B9R of Kallada. The bus had clocked a good 8.4 lakh kms, and did show age. The seats were of Haritha "Magnum" make - not the regular Harita VFX. The interiors were in above average shape - none of the seats had magazine pouches. Rattles were under control - the engine sounded very odd through. It had amazing pick-up though, and ride was too good.
The bus stopped for dinner at a run down place near Channapatna - 2253hrs to 2314hrs. I slept after the bus started from there. Remember waking up when the bus hit some potholes post Hunsur - it was raining heavily even then. The driver wasn't very soft on the potholes or in turns - he ended up hitting some bad potholes roughly and some rash brakes at curves. Did not seem like a regular on the route. I had a nice sleep after that rough patch though - did not realise anything until the bus reached Kozhikode!! We reached Kozhikode (MM Ali Road office of Kallada) at 0614hrs - interestingly, only about 14 pax got off here! The bus was still full! Some 4-5 passengers got in as well (legitimate tickets - since their names were on the chart).
We left at 0618hrs - that was pretty quick by any standards. I had another nice sleep - woke up just as the bus pulled into a fuel station in Mankave (0623hrs). They took in 100lts of diesel, and got moving at 0631hrs. I slept off soon again - vaguely remember passing Ramanattukara. I woke up a while later to see the bus stopped in the middle of the road! It was 0655hrs then. I was wondering what was happening. The bus started moving soon, but made some odd noises. Later, the pulled out of the road and parked on the shoulder - could hear the driver raise the engine, and it was spewing white smoke! Now, I was sure that things weren't rosy! I sent a message to a contact in Kallada, and waited to see what was happening. We got moving at 0710. The bus just wasn't picking pace. After some more minutes on the road, they pulled out again and stopped on the road side - the engine just puttered and went dead!! Now, I was sure something is wrong!
Got off the bus and had a word with the crew - the fuel line was clogged! They were trying to pump manually and get the engine running - but the engine just wouldn't start. They called up their Bangalore office, and their chief mechanic was on the other side asking the crew to do some things - they did all that, and they engine started - but did not remain on for long - it spewed a lot of smoke again and went dead! In the meantime, my contact called me back, and updated me that the fuel line was clogged and they are working on the issue - a spare bus has been arranged - if things don't get alright, the spare would reach us. That was reassuring.
The drivers did all they could, and the engine switched on - this time, the rpm was idle and it wasn't spewing smoke. I thought things were alright, and they asked all pax to get it. We got moving - ran another 250metres, and the bus finally brokedown in the middle of the road - right outside Calicut University - 0814hrs! By now the drivers were told not to attempt anymore, and simply call the replacement. The replacement came at 0830 - a 2x3 seater non-ac bus!! We started from there at 0840 - took a breakfast break near Perumbilavu (a good 61 minutes!!) and finally I reached Kodungallur (my hometown) at 1327hrs! The scheduled arrival was 0830hrs - a good 4h57m late!
Now I know what was the ill feeling I had - to add salt, my co-passenger asked me when would the bus reach Ernakulam the moment I got in - I too feel its a bad omen to ask the arrival time! And, it just got proved! I promised to be home for breakfast, and just about made it for lunch!
Return: May 13, 2013
Kallada Tours & Travels (Suresh Kallada)
Service: Ernakulam to Bangalore AC Sleeper
Bus: KA-51-B-3197 (Volvo B9R Sleeper)
This was my first ever ride in a Volvo sleeper - so was very excited - the excitement last right from the time I booked the ticket till I got into the bus!
The scheduled departure from Thrissur was 2200hrs - I reached the office by around 2145hrs - showed the ticket and he marked the bus number on it, and said the bus will reach by 2215hrs. The clock went past 2230hrs, but no sign of the bus. After a lot of pestering, the guy called up the driver, and found that the bus had started late, and it was still more than 30kms away! It finally landed at 2303hrs - a good 63 minutes late. I got into the bus and headed to my berth - 5LB. The floor was high at this point, and it felt as if I was sleeping on the floor. The bus was chilling cold and the interior lighting was excellent (thanks to the china made LED lamps).
The sleeper interiors was done by Prakash (the official builder for Sleeper interiors in Volvo buses now) - the finish was awful - sharp metal edges, loose screws, and so on. The bus was less than a month old, and hence cannot be attributed to poor upkeep. The berth was fairly wide (I am an obese person - I found it very comfortable) and was under 6ft in length. The pillow (its actually a raised portion in the berth) was quite hard. All pax settled down quickly (the bus was full - 37/37 berths occupied). A blanket was left on the berth - it was smelling fresh, and was actually supplied in a sealed plastic packet.
For some reason, the bus did not move for quite some time - we started off only at 2349hrs - I was mentally prepared for a very late arrival in Bangalore, and even prepared to take leave (and lose a day's pay) - since we have a rigid clock-in policy. The engine noise was well heard inside - very poor insulation work by Prakash (The shell that comes from Volvo is bare, and does not have any insulation material inside - it doesn't have any floor as such - just the box frame structure). Heat was penetrating in as well. I had a short nap, and woke up just as the bus was passing Walayar - 0140hrs. It was HOT inside now - i was sweating badly. The AC vents were blowing out warm air - no sign of the AC! I remained calm for some time - later made my way to the cabin (thankfully, there is no cabin door). Two spare drivers were sleeping on the gangway - so it made for a struggle to reach the cabin.
The driver had left his window open, and hence he had no idea about the AC not working. He checked the console after I told him that the AC was dead - all his attempts went in vain, and the AC just wouldn't budge. We reached Ettimadai checkpost by now (0151hrs) - as the cleaner went to get the papers checked, I asked the driver to shut down the engine and re-start. (The new AC compressors have an RPM based cut-off, to prevent damage to the compressors if the engine runs at low RPMs - the bus had once almost shut down due to low rpm). The AC started working after he re-started. In the meantime a lot of people got off the bus for a leak. We got moving at 0158hrs. Now the AC was working - I headed off to sleep. Slept for some time, and woke up as the bus pulled into their normal fuel station in Perundurai (0400hrs). We started from there at 0419hrs.
I had peaceful sleep after this break - woke up past 0600hrs (sweating again) - we were around Krishnagiri now. The ac was spewing hot air again. The overhead ventilation hatches were now open!! I think the drivers abandoned the thought of re-starting the AC now. It was quite stuffy inside - but I was too tired to teach the driver about the RPM based cut-off again. We reached Hosur at 0746hrs, Electronic City at 0814hrs, and I was finally dropped at Silk Board at 0825hrs. Gave a piece of my mind to the crew before getting off for all the delays. I ended up losing my pay as well.
Another "war" with the ever greedy rick guys, who were asking for Rs. 450 for a 6km ride home!! Another "good" guy agreed for Rs. 150 (still on the higher side) - I tipped him another Rs. 20 as I got off.
Overall - Kallada let me down both ways. I'd surely not hesitate try them again though.
The Sleeper was taken to the workshop the same day to set the AC right - some wiring mess-up by Prakash (I guess) - it seems the bus has been having AC faults every other trip. | 
14th May 2013, 21:21
(1)
Thanks
