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The 13.31 Airavat Club Class from Chikkamagaluru to Bengaluru that I took yesterday was supposed to reach Majestic by 18.00 hrs. A jolly fellow that he was, the driver preferred to drive at his leisure and I suspect, for his pleasure! He even stopped at a roadside sugarcane juice vending cart and helped himself to a glass. Bar the Nelamangala toll, all others were free and even after entering the city, the roads were relatively less crowded. Still, it was close to 18.45 when I got down near Sujatha.

The ride was just okayish; a lot of vibrations creeped through and i got a dose of free lower body massage. Unlike the last time, there was no WiFi available. I was told that only the newer Benz buses have that facility and not the Volvos (can't corroborate it though).

A good thing about most Airavats, including this one, is that even if the trip is supposed to end at Majestic, you can opt to get down at the Shanthinagar Bus Terminal or anywhere enroute at no extra cost or effort.

KaSRTC has mileage targets and drivers prefer meeting them, to making up for time lost in traffic and/or breaks. The former probably offers incentives to the drivers. For this reason, they shift to 6th gear at the lowest speed possible and keep lugging the engine instead of down-shifting. The MTC Chennai drivers try the same trick too - have seen some drivers take even 90 degree turns in 5th gear at ~25kmph.
Let's cut some slack there :)

That doesn't apply to all Airavats - this facility is only for buses operated by Bangalore-2/4 depots. Buses operated by other depots would terminate at Majestic itself.

Is it so?

The one I travelled in did belong to Depot 2 as do all the Airavats operated between Bengaluru-Chikkamagaluru :).

During my trips starting at 13.31, 14.32 and 16.11, I occasionally have to catch a connecting bus from Shantinagar and hence depend on these buses to take me there. They always drop me outside the depot gate. Strangely, only the 13.31 service lists Shantinagar as an official drop off point; the rest don't. But they DO go there.

If the service doesn't list Shantinagar as a drop point, the crew aren't obliged to let you travel till there - though majority of the crew do allow you. Some of them do not directly go to the depot - some buses take a long break near race course to unload parcels, some crew like to finish all the accounting work before they reach the depot - so they park the bus en route, finish ticket accounting, the accounting of the blankets and such stuff and finally head to the depot.

Therefore, even if the bus is from a Bangalore depot, you cannot be fully sure that they'd drop at Shantinagar.

Traveled in the new Kerala Lines service between Bangalore and Chennai on Friday night.

It's a 2+1 configuration bus with 40 seats in them. A B11r Volvo. Bus is beautiful with interiors nicely done.

Coming to the seats itself, it is huge. No more brushing of hands with fellow passengers. Had USB port I think for charging in each seats.

The seat doesn't recline as much as in the standard Volvos. It was a little disappointing. But I was pretty happy with the width of the seats.

Will be using the same service back to Bangalore and will be using the single seater this time. Things should be better.

Bus goes till Velachery and that's a positive for me.

The driving was good. Bus seems more powerful than B9rs and it was reflective in the way it picked up speeds. Was cruising at 100 kmph in the highways like the rest of the fellows. I was seated almost in the middle so ride was good as well.

Was delayed by an hour since the van picking up the passengers was late to arrive at Madiwala.

Otherwise it was a pleasant experience.

Did you guys get to read how a Kerala bound bus from Bengaluru (Lama Travels) was hijacked, along with all the 42 passengers. :eek:

The news first popped up on whatsapp groups and then on mainstream media.

Link 1: The NewIndianExpress

Link 2: The NEWS minute

Hello. Does anyone know whether KaSRTC runs any Airawat or similar class buses from Mangalore airport to Kollur. If not, any pointers on the best ways to get there. I do not prefer to take the train. I will be flying in from Hyderabad, family with an infant, so want to avoid as much hassles as possible. Also has anyone taken prepaid taxi from Mangalore airport to Mookambi temple.

KSRTC doesn't have any services from Mangalore Airport to Mookambika temple. Prepaid taxis exist - but I haven't used them. The Taxi lobby at the airport is quite strong, and they really do not let KSRTC start services there

Thanks Binai. Just now, came across an article that KSRTC is starting Volvo Low Floor from Mangalore bus stand to Kollur at the request of the temple trustees. The article is dated May'17: so should be operational if indeed they started.

As of today there are no KaSRTC services from Mangaluru to Kollur. It would be better if you can take a taxi to and fro. It should cost around ₹1600-₹2000 depending on the car you hire.

The entire Dakshin Kannada and Udupi district is ruled by the private lobby, there isn’t much services from KaSRTC in those districts apart from long distance routes.

Road till Kundapur is excellent 4-lane post which it is quite a winding route. Also note that the morning darshan closes by 12:30 pm and the afternoon darshan starts at 4 pm.

Was exploring bus options for Madras-Rameswaram and found these

KPN sleeper - 1060
Orange sleeper - 1330
YBM sleeper - 14xx

So what's special on offer about Orange and YBM for this premium? There is no boarding point advantage for me in any of the options.

I don't know about the main players on this route, and I don't know about YBM. But what I do know is, KPN was horrible in terms of punctuality and customer service. I also know that Orange is more customer centric and they take feedback seriously. My trips with Orange have been reasonably punctual - I give some leeway.

Chennai Bangalore, Chennai Coimbatore, Bangalore Coimbatore have all been pathetic with KPN, with the bus arriving at the pick up point over an hour behind schedule and at the destination many more hours after the advertised time.

With Orange, Bangalore Hyderabad Bangalore, Bangalore Thrissur, Bangalore Coimbatore were all pleasant experiences. The buses were well kept, ride was comfortable, and punctual.

So, I am ok with paying an extra 300 for peace of mind.

I don't know anything about this route. But I have travelled in all these service elsewhere.

KPN not sure if it was only for me; all my trips between Bangalore ~ Chennai was always bad and now I know why always there was a seat with KPN even for last minute weekend bookings.

Orange I have used their service between Chennai ~ Thrissur and Bangalore Thrissur quite few times and all of them were punctual.

YBM it was only once (Thrissur ~ Chennai) and that was good but bit rash and this need to be attributed to the driver.

So I'll go with silversteed here.

Cheers!

This quick review is about Chirag travels operating between Pune and Nathdwara ( around 60km ahead of Udaipur, Rajasthan).

I had to travel to Nathdwara and booked a Scania sleeper bus from Chirag travels for to and fro journeys.

The onward journey was to start at 2:00pm and the bus showed up on the dot! The bus staff was courteous.
Everyone on the bus was give half liter bottle of packaged water, specially packaged for Chirag Travels.
There was also a blanket provided, which was clean.
The bus driver took sufficient breaks in interest of the travelers.
Bus reached the destination at the committed time.

The return journey was to start at 3:00 PM and again, the bus moved out on the dot.

Overall, the bus was clean and did not have any funny smells which I have experienced in a few other buses.

The bus can also be tracked live and had WiFi facility, though I could figure out on how to use it. Was in no mood to spoil my journey looking at the phone!

Also, a couple of hours before the journey started, I received a message confirming/reminding of my travel.

All this at around Rs. 1800/- was well worth it. I had one of the best experiences so far in a bus journey that was quite long.

Edit: forgot to mention that I also received a follow up call from thier head office to check my satisfaction level with the journey.