[silversteed]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Any idea on a reliable morning service from Bangalore to Chennai which will reach Koyambedu before 1pm?

Well, if the fare is not a constraint, then I'll suggest Olivea. They'll drop you at the destination on the dot. Guess they have a 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock service - you'll be in Bangalore by noon.

Otherwise, there's KaSRTC Airavat at 6 o'clock. Can't think of any other services.

Stay away from Sangita travels. They are NEVER remotely close to the advertised time of departure or arrival.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

This is not exactly a bus travel review. But about the newly setup bus terminal at Chennai....

Some photos from the location.(These were taken at low light evening. sorry for the quality of photos).

[gold class]

B11R
Got to test drive the new beast !!! Wow amazing. It was the same bus that was on display at Auto Expo. Had taken some pics. Will update soon.Happened to pass by Volvo Hoskote today morning,when i saw one of the drivers who was getting trained on B11R waiting near the entrance.Was talking to him when the training head came in. Was lucky to get in the company and took the steering for nearly 3 min.
To be frank its easier to drive a Volvo than the most modernized cars on road these days. This one was equipped with a chemical toilet inside.Mostly the first batch will be delivered either on 15 March Or April 2.It has an additional window pane at the last.But the size of window pane is half the normal size.

[coolclouds]

Once again traveled in VRL sleeper from Bangalore to Chennai yesterday. The scheduled departure was 10.45 from Madiwala. The bus reached at 10.30 itself and started at 10.40, well before time. The bus was relatively new and nothing to complain about the drive. Surprisingly, it was a only one driver service.

I am so happy with VRL's prompt timing against min 1 hr late service of Kallada, KPN and many other operators

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

it was a only one driver service.

All VRL services between Bangalore and Chennai have only one driver and a cleaner/attendant.

I am so happy with VRL's prompt timing against min 1 hr late service of Kallada, KPN and many other operators

VRL and Kallada, KPN etc are leagues apart. I'm yet to see a KPN bus arrive at the pick-up point within 1 hour of the scheduled time of departure. VRL manages their services very professionally.

[aroonanand]

Travelled on SRS Travels Volvo Multi Axle from Bangalore to Trivandrum (via Madurai - Nagercoil) and back last weekend and had very mixed experiences

Onward:
Scheduled departure was 2030 PM on 2-Mar-12 from Madiwala; reached around 2010 and was informed the bus will arrive by 2030. Enough room to sit and clean toilet facilities. So far so good. Bus arrived at 2040 hours; was a very new B9R and was clean and well maintained.

Got into the bus and was shocked to see very less legroom for a 11-12 hour journey. Seats / leg room was the same as offered in KSRTC AIravat Club Class, which I find is extremely uncomfortable for long journeys. When the passenger in front seat reclines, they are practically on your lap !!!

Bus started ~2050 PM and promptly began playing a Tamil movie in very high volume. Was turned off around 1130 after the movie got over. AC temperature could have been much cooler and most of the journey I did not use the blanket. Bus used the E City elevated expressway and saved some time. No water provided. Overall driving was sedate with no sudden braking or rash overtakes. Halted near Krishnagiri for dinner at Hotel Uthaiah - I always prefer A2B or Sri Krishna for the highway stops (KPN and KSRTC usually stop here). Reached Trivandrum around 8 AM - Not a bad journey overall but for the poor leg room which is a deal breaker for me. Precisely the reason I stopped taking KSRTC Airavats for long journeys !

Return:

Return journey by same bus on 4-Mar-2012 at 630 PM from Trivandrum - reached the boarding point by 620 PM and bus was already waiting. Departed ~650 PM after waiting for 2 passengers who did not turn up eventually. AC was maintained at much cooler temperatures this time (~20 degrees). Reached Nagercoil around 845 PM... Now begins the harrowing experience for the next 10 hours

What was originally a 10 minute halt became an endless waiting game as the Nagercoil agent had a few unsold tickets + the 2 seats from Trivandrum and so the bus will not move till the seats are sold !!! So a range of agents / middlemen / drivers started the solicitation to bring in passengers for the bus... None in the bus other than I seemed to protest - everyone else was happy watching the movie played at super high volumes !!! A couple of seats were sold with few more remaining unsold... More time spent on bringing passengers and finaly the bus moved at 10 PM....

Now they realized that they accomodated 2 more passengers than what the bus can seat - shoirt distance folks to Madurai and Salem.. So what happened was this - these 2 passengers were asked to sit in the cabin (cleaners seat + on the floor) and the cleaner and spare driver decided to lie down and sleep in the gangway !!!!

And because the driver has no company in the cabin now, here's what he resorted to to avoid sleeping

1) Engage in mobile phone conversations with all and sundry to gossip about family, friends movies etc etc, all during the time when he was driving !!

2) Play music which was enough to disturb the sleep of most passengers... After the movie got over, he started playing some comedy clips which a couple of us protested so the TV was switched off.... But the cacaphony called music began !!!

The bus moved on to Madurai where a couple of folks got down and 2-3 more got in.. Again, arrangements made for extras to sleep in the gangway and the driver continued his phone / music....

Finally reached Bangalore ~ 730 AM at Silk Board... Driving was ok and sedate but was really irritated with the way the crew behaved... Cared zilch for the passengers and their sleep.. Now these fellows have nothing to do on Monday so they can sleep till the next evening.. But we have offices to attend - and it is not a good experience when you have been listening to music all through the night in the bus....

And they have the audacity to endanger the lives of 40+ passengers by driving with the phone on... All they care was a few hundred rupees for the extra passengers... Am going to send a mail to SRS and see if they even respond...

Will make sure I never again travel SRS on long distance travel.. partially due to lack of comfort and the rest due to the attitude of the crew.... Guess paying 100 bucks more for SRM or KPN is worth the assurance of a comfortable and peaceful journey !!! No wonder the bus was not fully sold out on such a lucrative route on a Sunday evening.. Am sure no one will want to travel this bus the 2nd time.....

[TKMCE]

I think this thread is invaluable for the postings such as the one made by "aroonanand". I have to do the same trip shortly (and not on a Friday!) and no way I am going to try my luck with Southern SRS. I guess I will go with SRM although Bharathi and Viji Yatra are also options. Any feedback on these three??

Also any Volvo/MB between Aluva and Bangalore which puts me down at Corporation/Kalasipalayam by 6.30 AM???

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I think this thread is invaluable for the postings such as the one made by "aroonanand". I have to do the same trip shortly (and not on a Friday!) and no way I am going to try my luck with Southern SRS. I guess I will go with SRM although Bharathi and Viji Yatra are also options. Any feedback on these three??

Also any Volvo/MB between Aluva and Bangalore which puts me down at Corporation/Kalasipalayam by 6.30 AM???

Have taken SRM Sleeper earlier on the same route and had a good experience. 7 PM departure from Madiwala and dropped me at TVM on 7 AM next morning. These folks take the Nagercoil route and so may not help you if your destination is Aluva. For the Kerala route, guess Kallada will serve your cause though they are not punctual. Same goes for KPN.

[TKMCE]

Thanks Aroon

I will go by SRM,I guess. I am going to Trivandrum from BLR and returning back from Aluva to Bangalore .Now getting from Trivandrum to Aluva is a nightmare I dont even want to think about !!! If only the Janshatabdis had a stop at Aluva!!!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Got into the bus and was shocked to see very less legroom for a 11-12 hour journey. Seats / leg room was the same as offered in KSRTC AIravat Club Class, which I find is extremely uncomfortable for long journeys. When the passenger in front seat reclines, they are practically on your lap !!!

Interesting. Airavat Club Class has 47 seats, compared to 49 in other operators. I found that the legroom in Airavat Club Class (Volvo) was the best compared to other operators. (The same cannot be said about the Airavat Club Class Mercs).

KPN might have slightly better legroom because they have only 44 seats. The last row of seats is compromised for a full fledged berth for the spare driver.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Also any Volvo/MB between Aluva and Bangalore which puts me down at Corporation/Kalasipalayam by 6.30 AM???

Very Very difficult - especially if its a working day. May be you can try the 1830hrs Airavat Club Class. Even with the worst driver, the bus should land up by 0630hrs at Majestic. Their promised arrival time at Majestic is 0500hrs though. The other option would the 2000hrs B9R of Kallada from Thrissur (1800hrs Kodungallur-Bangalore B9R). Since it leaves Thrissur at 2000hrs, it should be able to land at Kalasipalayam by 0600hrs.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I will go by SRM,I guess. I am going to Trivandrum from BLR and returning back from Aluva to Bangalore .Now getting from Trivandrum to Aluva is a nightmare I dont even want to think about !!! If only the Janshatabdis had a stop at Aluva!!!

Try the 1515hrs Trivandrum-Bangalore Garuda. They usually take Aluva/Thrissur passengers from Trivandrum - since a good chunk of their long passengers join in at Thrissur only.

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Now they realized that they accomodated 2 more passengers than what the bus can seat - shoirt distance folks to Madurai and Salem.. So what happened was this - these 2 passengers were asked to sit in the cabin (cleaners seat + on the floor) and the cleaner and spare driver decided to lie down and sleep in the gangway !!!!

And because the driver has no company in the cabin now, here's what he resorted to to avoid sleeping

One of my friends told that, these SRS buses used to take passengers between Madurai-Karur also.

One more problem is there with cancellation. When you cancel your eticket in SRS, they will not refund your amount. They will provide you a coupon and you are forced to travel in their buses.

They also charge huge fares during festival seasons. They charged Rs.1500 in Madurai-Bangalore route for their Volvo. It is double the amount what KPN is charging now.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

One of my friends told that, these SRS buses used to take passengers between Madurai-Karur also.

One more problem is there with cancellation. When you cancel your eticket in SRS, they will not refund your amount. They will provide you a coupon and you are forced to travel in their buses.

They also charge huge fares during festival seasons. They charged Rs.1500 in Madurai-Bangalore route for their Volvo. It is double the amount what KPN is charging now.

Very true... The very reason I took SRS was because I had a coupon for some 500 bucks for a Chennai - Bangalore cancellation I had done a few months back and this was due to expire end of March !!!

They also had a special bus on the Trivandrum - Blr route which was charging some 1299 or 1399 per ticket when I booked mine by the normal bus... Should stay away from them like plague I guess !!!

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Very true... The very reason I took SRS was because I had a coupon for some 500 bucks for a Chennai - Bangalore cancellation I had done a few months back and this was due to expire end of March !!!

They also had a special bus on the Trivandrum - Blr route which was charging some 1299 or 1399 per ticket when I booked mine by the normal bus... Should stay away from them like plague I guess !!!

Its good to stay away from SRS atleast for TN/KL bound routes. Once i saw this guy charging around Rs.2000. Not sure whether it was for their Diwali SPL. They also load huge amount of parcels.

When you get a coupon from SRS, atleast you have a chance to use them in various routes. Saw one operator called Roadlink india, they also does the same for cancellation. But they are operating buses only in Chennai-Bangalore route. Roadlink India charges Rs.400 for their week day services and seems that the service looked good.

Saw one SRS Sleeper today in Madurai. To my surprise it was a TN registered bus. Earlier this bus was running in Bangalore-Pollachi(Now extended to Munnar) route. Any other operators run TN registered buses to Bangalore?

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Its good to stay away from SRS atleast for TN/KL bound routes.

I've travelled in their BLR-CBE non-AC sleeper bus a couple of times. At Rs.450 for a weekend, i found it value for money. I had no gripe about the service either - the bus was on time and comfortable, and the crew was also polite. But I haven't had the nerve to try out SRS (or any operator I've not travelled in) in any other route.

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Saw one operator called Roadlink india, they also does the same for cancellation. But they are operating buses only in Chennai-Bangalore route. Roadlink India charges Rs.400 for their week day services and seems that the service looked good.

Most of my Bangalore-Chennai trips are done with Roadlink India. Well maintained buses, punctuality, and polite crew have made me a fan of their services.

A short review here and here

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Any other operators run TN registered buses to Bangalore?

I guess ARC had some TN registered buses. You'd posted some pics long back.

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Most of my Bangalore-Chennai trips are done with Roadlink India. Well maintained buses, punctuality, and polite crew have made me a fan of their services.

A short review here and here

One of my friend used their buses couple of times and he gave a good review. If i'm not wrong, they start and end their journey in T.Nagar.

Originally Posted by silversteed

I guess ARC had some TN registered buses. You'd posted some pics long back.

ARC used KA registered buses for their bangalore bound routes and the routes are no more. I havent seen them operating any TN registered buses to KA.