[binand]

Originally Posted by King_Julien

Once the Chennai- Bangalore Expressway is open, will there be a direct entry into Bangalore-Mysore Express way?

I think the earliest we can see that sort of connection is when the full circle of STRR is implemented, which I'm not hopeful would happen in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by King_Julien

Any idea how many kms between these routes, and does it pass through any city traffic?

It is about 50 km if you go through the city (Mysore Road connecting to Old Madras Road through Hudson Circle & Trinity Circle). In terms of time taken - 2 hours is a good first approximation.

On the other hand, if you don't want to take the (upcoming) Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, you can connect from Mysore Road to Hosur Road (the current preferred route to Chennai) via NICE Ring Road without entering Bangalore proper. It is about 25 km of NICE Road and 15 more to Attibele toll booth / Bangalore urban area edge / KA-TN border. You should be able to cover this distance in 1 hour or so.

[Jagann13]

God bless the bikers who has to use the service road on the expressway from Bangalore to Mysore. I'm doing a solo trip now and the endless speed breakers on the two wheeler route was a pain.

I forgot the count but I would have at least did the speed breaker routine of downshifting to 2nd and back to 6th, 50 times today.

[King_Julien]

Originally Posted by binand

On the other hand, if you don't want to take the (upcoming) Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, you can connect from Mysore Road to Hosur Road (the current preferred route to Chennai) via NICE Ring Road without entering Bangalore proper. It is about 25 km of NICE Road and 15 more to Attibele toll booth / Bangalore urban area edge / KA-TN border. You should be able to cover this distance in 1 hour or so.

Thanks. That is the route that I travel from Kannur (North Kerala) to Chennai at present.

Originally Posted by binand

It is about 50 km if you go through the city (Mysore Road connecting to Old Madras Road through Hudson Circle & Trinity Circle). In terms of time taken - 2 hours is a good first approximation.

I was hoping that the new CHN-BLR expressway would reduce my travel time, but looks like it wont help. We shall discuss once that road is ready.

[wavingflag]

On the evening of 16-02-2024, around 6:00 PM, we were entering Gananguru toll plaza. We noticed that the leftmost lane had only one car, so we moved into that lane. As we neared the toll barricade, we observed the car in front of us engaging with the toll booth agent and the display was showing "Black listed tag". Seeing no vehicles behind us, we considered switching to a different lane. After waiting for 30-45 seconds, we noticed that the driver ahead was paying the toll in cash. Barricade was lifted and the car moved. Display showed the car's registration number.

As we proceeded towards the barricade, it remained stationary, displaying "Blacklisted tag". While I wasn't surprised, I was confused. My IDBI wallet was incorrectly linked to an MP registered car two weeks ago, a technical glitch on the bank's side. I had rectified this with the IDBI team, and the update had reflected on 16-02-2024, the day of my travel. I had also recharged my wallet before starting the journey. And the same tag worked without issue at the Kaniminikke Toll Plaza, the starting point of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway.

Toll Plaza attendant1: "Sir, no balance?"
Me: (Showing balance in my Fastag app) "There is enough balance"
Toll Plaza attendant1: "IDBI tag? IDBI Server down hei sir. You have to pay in cash"
me: "Alright, I'll wait here to see if the server comes back online. Additionally, I will file a complaint."
Toll Plaza attendant1: Arrogantly "Sure, go ahead and file a complaint. Dial 1033 and report it."
Me: Dialed that number and it did not connect from my mobile(I do not know how to dial this 1033 from mobile).
Toll Plaza attendant1: (Waiting for some other vehicle to come and start honking at me) "Go ahead and complain"
Me: "I will try another toll lane," I took out my mobile and began recording the conversation. I also started reversing since there were no vehicles behind me.
Toll Plaza attendant2: "What happened?"
I did not respond to him.

Toll Plaza attendant2 retreated into the cabin as I began to reverse. Suddenly, the display started showing my registration number, and the barricade lifted. Toll Plaza attendant1 signaled for me to proceed. I proceeded forward and passed through the barricade.Later, I received an SMS (approximately 1-2 hours later) confirming a deduction of toll amount 155/- from my wallet.​

I still believe that he tried to trick me, unless I receive clarification on the following questions.
1. Why did the display show "Blacklisted Tag" when a valid tag was presented?
2. Can the toll plaza attendant manipulate the same?

And I suspect similar tactics were used with the vehicle ahead of mine, as they also faced a blacklisted tag issue and paid the toll amount by cash.

Adding a video from my Dashcam here. I am keeping the audio on, though it is a combination of Malayalam and Hindi. Edited using InShot to reduce the file size before uploading in YouTube.

https://youtu.be/A3Uj1MVq6ZY?si=13RDc04bJnnCI36e

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by wavingflag

I still believe that he tried to trick me, unless I receive clarification on the following questions.
1. Why did the display show "Blacklisted Tag" when a valid tag was presented?
2. Can the toll plaza attendant manipulate the same?

This tactic was prevalent during the initial days when the toll collection started. Surprised to hear it still exists.

I am not sure how do they do that, but this had happened in the past as well and I remember posting on it in this thread during that time:

Originally Posted by balenoed_

True that. This toll plaza staffs are no saint. Even this incident looks to be triggered by the behavior of the staff.

There were instances where these toll plaza guys will say that your tag is black listed due to insufficient balance and make you pay in cash. And in the hurry, you tend to not check on your balance and pay it up to avoid a delay. It had happened multiple times with several people I know of. Only later they realize that there is balance in their tag.

[Masalawheelz]

Hello All!

Just got a little confused after reading the last 3-4 pages of this thread. Is the official speed limit 100kmph or 120kmph? I used the expressway last jan when I was told that the speed limit was 120kmph and so I travelled mostly with the Cruise Control at 110 which is my usual preferred speed.

Thanks!

Cheers!

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Masalawheelz

Hello All!

Just got a little confused after reading the last 3-4 pages of this thread. Is the official speed limit 100kmph or 120kmph? I used the expressway last jan when I was told that the speed limit was 120kmph and so I travelled mostly with the Cruise Control at 110 which is my usual preferred speed.

Thanks!

Cheers!

It is 100kmph in the fast lane. It was initially 120 but reduced after an increased number of accidents and poor driving behavior.

[RahulRV]

The speed limit is 100, last week I saw Police near ramnagara and have set up barricades to catch the over speeding cars. Although I appreciate the vigilance, the barricades can catch you off guard during sunny afternoon.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

It is 100kmph in the fast lane. It was initially 120 but reduced after an increased number of accidents and poor driving behavior.

I think some highways authority later 'realized' after the elections that it has very sharp curves and cannot support such speeds safely, hence got untagged as an expressway to become a normal national highway with fast disappearing fencing

[xotiq]

Having paid and travelled through this route many times, for a change tried avoiding the tolls and diverted. As the diversions join the expressway almost immediately after the toll, hardly any additional time added.
I would prefer not to go beyond 80-90kmph, and looking at overall lane indiscipline and rash driving, quite ok with this approach.

[shankar.balan]

I used this Highway yesterday in my Gypsy - it was laden with some reasonably heavy and bulky stuff which I wanted to give my friend so it was basically a personal cargo transport delivery job.
Left home 0545. Used the NICE Road to get to the Mysore Tollway. Hopped on to the Tollway. Drove at a steady 70-90 range and stayed in the left lane and middle lane as needed. Reached Mysore 0810.
The traffic was very light and what there was, was disciplined and decent.

Except for one absolute Maniac in a Silver Grey Renault Fluence, who was driving completely in the wrong lane in the opposite direction to on going traffic towards Mysore, for god-knows-what reason. I was luckily in the middle lane at the time, taking the downward descent and this lunatic was occupying the left most lane but coming at me in the direction of Bangalore. This was somewhere near that Pandavapura area where there is a railway track underneath and there isn’t even any eatery or similar, around there.

Anyway, after reaching Mysore and doing the trans-shipment and a leisurely breakfast and chat, I drove back.

Return journey was absolutely uneventful and there was again, very light traffic. And no maniacs. Left Mysore 0930. Steady pace of 80-90 in the middle lane mostly. Saw a nicely maintained Maroon Zen VXi (must have been a 2000-2002 model from the appearance.) Waved to him since both our cars belong to that older generation of automobile design. Stopped near Ramanagaram to fill up some petrol as I was running a bit low, and reached the NICE Road exit after that to head towards Hosur Road. I was back by 1130am.

A 300kms round trip drive in my non AC, non power steering, soft top, nylon cross ply tyred Gypsy. Most enjoyable.

I think that this new road has significantly reduced time wasted, stress and of course increased overall commuting efficiency.

And I must say that the incidents of extremely stupid and rash behaviour seem to have come down a bit.

[skrao]

Drove on it this afternoon( 3rd March) , on my way back from Kodai via the Dimbum Ghats. Joined the expressway at Maddur, the traffic was surprisingly light, possibly missed the post 4 pm return to Bangalore rush.
Driving on the service road from the Malavalli turning to join the expressway at the entrance between Maddur and Channapatna, could not help but notice the really shoddy work on the drain, fencing and maintenance over all.

Many concrete drain covers were missing or broken, some slabs were dangerously displaced into the service road. Could be a major hazard for night time two wheeler riders and even unsuspecting cars.

The fence was broken at many places, worse paint has peeled off on the posts and looks rusted. There is a lot of weeds growing which doesn't seem to have been tended to. There were a few food vendors stationed at the exits with makeshift stores in a couple Tata Aces.

There were no drivers performing high jinks, or driving dangerously. There were the usual trucks in the right lane, but far less than I had seen earlier.

[jaganm]

The most expensive toll of my life. Last week, I had booked a stay at Eagleton in Bidadi. On my previous trips on the expressway, I seemed to recall a gap just before the toll booth. So, when we followed the Google maps to the destination, without thinking too much I got on to the flyover. To my disappointment, when I got to the toll booth, I could not see any gap and I had to go via the booth and got 165 deducted. Within 5 km, I saw the exit for Bidadi but there was no toll booth to show that I got off and ended up paying almost 33 Rs/km. On the return, I took the service road and was able to get to the NICE road junction in pretty much a similar time to taking the expressway.

There is another flaw that I observed, there was no way on the median to prevent someone from getting onto the expressway at Bidadi. So, wouldn't it be trivial to just join at Bidadi? I am not aware if something similar exists near Mysore, but I can easily see oversmart people using this loophole while us law abiding suckers pick up the tab.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by jaganm

There is another flaw that I observed, there was no way on the median to prevent someone from getting onto the expressway at Bidadi. So, wouldn't it be trivial to just join at Bidadi?

This is not a flaw. It is by design. That is what many do. If they don't take the toll roads, they will miss out on cruising the Kengeri flyover and they will have to drive on the service roads.

I am not aware if something similar exists near Mysore

Yes, it does . If they do, they will have to use the service roads for say 15 km.

[sagarpadaki]

Yesterday I travelled to Mysore. Today I observed the discrepancy in the toll costs between the onward and return journey.

The Bangalore-Mysore toll charges are more than the Mysore-Bangalore toll charges. IIRC, there are only 2 toll booth for onward and return. But the toll booth name is also different in one transaction. Can someone explain this?