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Folks, Need to bring a bike and a bullet from Tirur to Chennai. Malappuram will be the nearest boarding point for busses from Calicut to Chennai. Had anyone did this recently if yes which operator?
If not possible from Malappuram will drive to Palakkad. Hence appreciate details from Palakkad as well.
Cheers!

Why don't you book them on a train? They'll arrive in far better condition than loaded onto the roof of a bus.

They don't load bikes on roofs anymore (at least the majority of them). They go in the hatch below the passenger cabin like this:




Source: aanavandi.com

@treadmark: Why don't you try KSRTC? They seem to have bike transport facility on nearly all of their routes. Check out the above website for more info.

Would it not be better to check the lorry transport services like KTC. I assume you will be able to do it from Tirur itself. I sent a bike from Bangalore to Calicut via KTC.

As swiftdiesel mentioned they go in the hatch, have done that few times to Thrissur since 2011


No KeSRTC services yet to Chennai.


Will have it checked with KTC, how long did it took for you?

Cheers!

4-5 days if I remember right. Had to pay a little extra for them to completely pack it.

Check with Kallada. They might carry your bike in their Volvo. You will have to travel in the bus though.

Kochi - Bangalore, 2nd June 2017
Atlas Travels - Lemon Bus, Scania Multi Axle

Booked online and showed Vyttila as only pickup point at 9pm. Called their office and requested for boarding from Pipeline junction. Scheduled pickup was at 9.15pm but bus arrived at 9.35, thanks to continuous rains. It was the Trivandurm - Bangalore service which stopped at Karukutty for dinner and entered Trichur town for pickup. Easy drive and reached Madiwala at 7.30am.

Bangalore-Kochi: 3rd June
Padikkal travels, Volvo multi axle

Scheduled departure was at 8.50/9pm (?). Bus left Madiwala at 9.30 and arrived Pipeline Junction at 5.40am, a true non stop service.

Most of the days I see Evacay volvo near Vyttla at 5.35am and Padikkal just behind it.

Did a round trip from Bangalore to Udupi, took the KSRTC Diamond class onwards and the club class while returning. Diamond class is Scania and the ride was absolutely great and the driving was pretty good. On the return leg, we had to change the buses at the Mangalore depot and was done pretty efficiently as the original bus developed some technical issue. Left udupi at 9:30 on the dot and reached Bangalore at 6:30 AM , took the metro from Peenya to Jayanagar and the commute lasted 30 mins in the metro. So bye bye Majestic and its mess from now onwards :)

Hello,
As I always prefer to travel in ST buses rather than private operators, I have booked for Goa Kadamba's Pune-Goa Volvo. Hope, it will be a good choice.
Any reviews or experiences for the same?

Go to hell Parveen Travels.

Booked AC Sleeper today afternoon for tonight bus from Bangalore to Chennai for Mother-in-Law for unplanned travel.
Reporting time- 10PM; Departure Time: 10:15PM from Madivala.

We reached 5 mins before reporting time and were asked to wait and that they will announce when the bus arrives.
We kept on checking every 10 minutes and got same response. Finally at 10:45 PM the staff inform that the bus is cancelled due to some reason and they'll accomodate in another Scania AC Sleeper bus at 11:30 PM.

Come 11:30 PM, what we see is a AC Semi Sleeper bus. When I protested that

1. I paid for a AC Sleeper Bus am getting a Semi Sleeper Bus- I need differential refund,
   2. Why was I not informed beforehand that they will give a semi sleeper bus after charging sleeper bus charges.

The staff acted as if I leave it or take it.

My mother-in-law suggest me to let her travel and leave the issue as she is travelling alone. I am still fuming and hyperventilating after this experience.

Whenever I plan my Mother In Law travels to Tanjore/Pudukottai/Chennai - I always do it in KSRTC. They stick to schedule like clock. Never ever had a complaint!

Does KSRTC provide blankets in the Airavat buses ? Plain Airavat and not Club or Diamond class.

I've booked tickets from Bangalore to Madurai for me and family and I'm a bit worried as to how cold it will be in the bus for my kids.

I think they still do. My last trip in Airavatha was in early 2010 but I am sure they still provide the blankets.

EDIT: Here you go!

As long as your journey is overnight, blankets would be provided.

Did a Mumbai-Hyderabad-Mumbai trip in a TSRTC Garuda Plus Volvo B9R Multi-Axle.

It was a trip for many firsts, which included : first time in a Multi-Axle B9R, first time in a Volvo with the I-Shift transmission, first time in a Volvo which was not owned by MSRTC, and travelling outside the State of Maharashtra for the first time since moving to India 3 years ago.

As always, the Volvo B9R was a delight. The I-Shift part is however a bummer for a Bus Geek like me, since it doesn't really allow the driver to floor it like how a Manual B9R would(I love the B7R/B9R sound when floored :P). Besides that, the B9R behaved like a gem on both trips, as expected.

On TSRTC, there are positives and negatives. The website is pretty good to use via Mobile, and the fact that the service starts from Mumbai Central was an added bonus for me,.belonging to the South side of Mumbai. However, an hour before the trip, the driver casually calls me to inform that passengers usually find it hard to locate the bus at Mumbai Central, and that I should board at Dadar instead. I called the BS since Mumbai Central has an actual Bus Station, and I knew where the Garuda Plus buses' got parked anyway, however the driver refused, and considering that I had close to 16 hours to spend with the staff, I let it go. Barring this one experience, the rest of journey was uneventful. We left Dadar at 5:15, and reached Hyderabad by 9AM the next day. The bus makes a stopover at Pune Railway Station as well, and just like in flights, TSRTC happens to have 5th freedom rights to pick passengers up from Mumbai, for Pune as well. Interestingly, TSRTC has 2 Entertainment Screens as well where they play Pirated Telugu movies, one a Theater Rip of Bahubali, and another movie ripped off from some TV Channel.

On the return leg, not much to write about as the same sequence was repeated. All passengers picked up, and pirated movies were played in galore. However, upon reaching Dadar, the Driver refused to go to Mumbai Central even though that is officially final stop. This time many passengers put their foot down as well, but the Driver and his conductor were stupidly adamant. The driver even had the nerve to say that he brought us so far (from Hyderabad), and that we were making a fuss for such a small thing. At the end, everyone had to get down at Dadar.
TSRTC seriously needs to up its Staff Game, and also investigate where their Garuda busses end up after they arrive in Mumbai.

However, one thing TSRTC's got right is the pricing. this 750KM route costs 1200 rupees, in a Volvo B9R Multi-Axle. In comparison, MSRTC used to charge 1200 Rupees for a 350KM trip from Mumbai to Aurangabad, that too with a B7R single axle!

Some pictures: