[ajman28]

Travels: Kallada Travels
Bus: Volvo multi-axle (without I-Shift)
ROUTE: Chennai to Trichur, Kerala (Final destination of bus: Tiruvalla, Kerala)
Condition of bus: Average
Crew: Arrogant
Condition of amenities: Dirty & smelly blanket and curtains. No water bottle.
Timing: Started 1.5 hrs late but made it on time to Trichur!!!
Overall verdict: Poor. I held my breath throughout the journey and was praying I reach home without any damage!


It's been more than 2 years since my last trip with KALLADA travels. You can read my last experience here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...views-109.html

I thought things would have improved but alas the general opinion I have of them still remains. This time the bus did not break-down (at least!!).

In general, the travels is too expensive for the service they provide. Because of the long "republic" weekend, I had to shell out 2k for the trip. That's the same price I paid for the return journey on SpiceJet!

Worst of all is the driving style. The driver literally thought he was on a "death-race"! The braking, the cutting of lanes and the G-forces during turns will really creep you out. The arrogance of the crew did not make things any simpler.

Take the travels as a last resort only (I stick to my earlier opinion) and please take a sedative before you start the journey!

[joshguy]

Originally Posted by satyaanveshi

Any suggestions on a good B'lore-Chennai-B'lore Volvo service that enables boarding/alighting at Adyar?

Old reviews suggest Roadlink is a good option but any updates on the current situation would be useful.

You have good number of option, Sea bird,Jabbar/National travels , Green line , Geepee Travels,KPN,Sardar ,Parveen and Hebron the recently launched operator.

i have travelled in Jabbar,Geepee,Kpn & parveen to bengaluru all are equally good.

mornings Jabbar and Seabird have buses from adyar.

[coolclouds]

Did Kochi-Bangalore on last Thursday by Atlas travels. This is the Trivandrum-Bangalore service which was scheduled to reach Vyttila at 9.30 pm.

I called up the driver and he asked me to come after 10.30pm but finally bus reached at 11.15pm. Driving was quick and reached Madiwala by 8.45am. This bus was speed locked at 90 kmph.

[ameyawaghmare]

I traveled from Hyderabad to Pune in an overnight bus recently. I went by my usual process. Go to MakeMyTrip, sort by the lowest price an then manually check for customer reviews.
Neeta Travels is a strict no-no for me considering its punctuality and crew behavior. I opted for Orange travels at one of the lowest prices at Rs. 945/-

Excellent crew behaviour, provided a blanket, seats were clean, snacks were served with water bottles, and most important, the bus was before time. departed at sharp 10:00 AM from Secunderabad, 11:45 at Patancheru ORR crossing and after a slow drive on the 2-laned TS roads, it probably had a blast on the Solapur - Pune road. I reached at Hadapsar at 6:45 AM and after going through all internal Pune roads, dropped atr Aundh at 7:30 AM sharp.

So, that was sharp 7 hours from Hyd to Pune!
I would highly recommend this bus service from travellers on HYD - PNQ - BOM route.

[JMaruru]

Any suggestions for Bangalore - Mumbai sector? This is for a single lady traveling to Mumbai(Goregaon), prefer something which has a drop point around Goregaon on Western Expressway.

[TKMCE]

VRL gets the vote from me. However last travelled nearly three years back.

Ensure that you book a bus which terminates at Borivali and not VT nor do I recommend booking any Ahmedabad or beyond services (not sure whether thee go via WE highway anway). They have multiple services to BOM and definitely has a drop at Goregaon. Their website has the precise details.

KaSRTC also may be a good option. Two of their four services terminate at Borivali with a stop at Goregaon while the other two end at Mumbai Central.


Avoid Neeta and Sharma. Horrible customer service on both. Another big operator is SRS but has not travlled on them.

Avoid others. They are small players and if heaven forebid a break down happens you can get badly stuck.

[ameyawaghmare]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Any suggestions for Bangalore - Mumbai sector? This is for a single lady traveling to Mumbai(Goregaon), prefer something which has a drop point around Goregaon on Western Expressway.

Yes, I'll vote up for VRL, the most preferred operator on this route. 2 years ago, I remember going from Bangalore till Borivali National Park (that was the last point) in KSRTC Airavat. Took a good 17 hours. If single lady is traveling, KSRTC is definitely the best choice. The trouble with Airavat is that it enters Pune and passes through all the internal city roads at peak traffic times. VRL and others go by the bypass and save at least an hour.

I'd recommend to go on a popular travel portal like Makemytrip or Yatra, and look at the operators with best customer reviews. We never know if new reliable operators have come in place. Do check if SVLL Connect is operating on that route, that would be an expensive option but super premium Scania buses. You can book only from their website.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Any suggestions for Bangalore - Mumbai sector? This is for a single lady traveling to Mumbai(Goregaon), prefer something which has a drop point around Goregaon on Western Expressway.

KaSRTC is the only option I can think of. They might be slower than the private operators and might take an hour or two more. But superb and reliable service.
Like others mentioned , opt for their Borivali service

They also have an option to select "single Lady"

[iWonder]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

They also have an option to select "single Lady"

Attachment 1336416Attachment 1336417

Actually that's something which I don't like at all, because it doesn't work. Regardless of choosing "single lady" option, there are only two seats (?) which are reserved for ladies. There have been many instances where my sister and girlfriend had to ask the conductor or other travelers for a change of seat.

[coolclouds]

VRL and SRS are doing good on Bangalore-Mumbai sector.

[coriollis]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

KaSRTC is the only option I can think of.

They also have an option to select "single Lady"

VRL also asks for ' Gender' while booking. We can also see the seats booked by lady passengers in ' Pink ' on the booking chart.
Further, VRL and AFAIK SRS too, doesn't let a male passenger book a seat next to a single lady passenger.

SRS is also a good option considering their punctuality, although they are notorious for picking roadside passengers. I think this has been escalated to the management , as our bus , The 2.30 PM MUM BLR Scania schedule I was traveling last week was inspected for extra passengers and luggage after Chitradurga and was cleared to proceed.

Cheers,
AB

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

VRL gets the vote from me. However last travelled nearly three years back.

Originally Posted by ameyawaghmare

Yes, I'll vote up for VRL, the most preferred operator on this route.

Originally Posted by speedsatya

KaSRTC is the only option I can think of.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

VRL and SRS are doing good on Bangalore-Mumbai sector.

Originally Posted by coriollis

VRL also asks for ' Gender' while booking. We can also see the seats booked by lady passengers in ' Pink ' on the booking chart.

Thanks for pitching in with suggestions. She traveled by VRL A/C sleeper, 4PM departure from B'lore and reached Goregaon at 9AM. Best of all, they dropped her at Ratna, Goregoan, closer to residence.

[J2G]

Ernakulam - Bangalore Kallada caught fire at kattikulam near mananthavadi today morning.One passenger suffered minor injury and rest escaped unhurt. There were 36 passengers in the the bus.

[arjithin]

Came across this in f/b

https://www.facebook.com/chikki.marw...00167974040182

This incident happened on 10th February 2015 Hyderabad to Bangalore
Bus Number: KA 57 F 217
Bus Type: Mercedes Benz Multi Axle
Departure Time from Hyderabad: 7:00 PM
Incident happened: ~ 10:30 PM after Jadcherla
I was given a seat number 25, I didn’t book the ticket before, bought a ticket from staff in MGBS, Hyderabad. Bus was 90% full (>40 passengers)
Immediately after completing a dinner break in Jadcherla, I started to hear the noise from the back of the bus, where few passengers boarded the bus with luggage. Thought they didn’t close the door properly.
After few minutes the noise getting heavy and I started feeling something is definitely wrong going on with the bus. I think bus running more than > 95KMPH by during that time. It was about the time that all passengers to drop into deep sleep.
I was not able to sleep due the noise and went to staff who was resting in the first seat and asked, and the conversation is:
Me: What is the noise?
Staff: It could be a flat tire but we can reach easily to Bangalore with it? (This reply immediately when asked the question as if he already knows what the issue was)
Me: Please stop the bus, let’s check what the noise is then continue the journey.
Staff: No need to worry, you please get back to your seat and sleep. I’ll wake you up at Hebbal
By this time, one of the fellow passenger (Phani) got to help me to stop the bus and we’ve asked to stop the bus but driver was ignoring us to and he is driving at the same speed.
We demanded the driver to stop the bus and finally he agreed to stop the bus and few passengers along with me got down the bus to check what is happening there.
When we reached back of the bus, the tire was completely tore off and it is about to sparkle out. It’s the tire next to the engine. This could easily got the fire in the engine and could result into an engine blast or bus getting the fire killing all the passengers boarded as there is little chance of escaping.
Staff now started to change the tire but they don’t have a torchlight or neither have a proper tool kit to change the tire and not properly trained to change a tire. Few of us helped with mobile torch to help then to look at the problem. And the charging slots were not working on the bus, so many has very little charge left or their phones got switched off to inform their delayed arrival to families due to the issue we stuck in. They were struggling not knowing where to fix the Jack. They struggled for 45 min just to fix the Jack and fixed the tire, it took almost 1.5 hours and with the help of another 2 KSRTC bus staff which were coming from Hyderabad.
Few Questions to KSRTC management:
1. How can your staff be so rude to the passenger when they complain about un-comfort due the noise which was not existent at the start of the journey?
2. Is staff is not responsible to check the noise immediately after they hear it?
3. Driver doesn’t know if there is a flat tire. Doesn’t he feel the comfort of driving a good bus and flat tired bus?
4. How can you take 40+ passengers on a death ride without even checking the severity of the bus condition when knowing it’s dangerous to drive with a flat tire?
5. When was the last time you checked staff skills and condition of the tool box to repair any damages or emergency failure on the bus?
These photos were taken at the time of incident...

More photos and details in FB

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Came across this in f/b

https://www.facebook.com/chikki.marw...00167974040182

I think KaSRTC is not having a good time now. Here's something about the crew behaviour - both on-road and with the public:
'It felt like Nirbhaya'
Driver, conductor arrested for assault on ex-IAF pilot, brother

Interestingly, the bus in question, KA-40-F-0946 has many pending violations too.