[coolclouds]

Sangita Travels

At present, I am traveling from Chennai to Bangalore in Bharathi-Sangita Multi Axle Volvo.

I reached Koyambedu just after 2pm and saw this bus in the petrol bunk about to start. Bought a ticket assuming that it will reach Bangalore first (Preferred Sangita over Seabird as Sangita was a Multi Axle and relatively new bus)

As per the ticket, the departure time was 2.30pm. Boarded the bus at the petrol bunk but the bus started rolling only at 3. Finally left Koyambedu at 3.10pm, stopped at Poonamallee bus stop 15 mins looking for Bangalore passengers.

Again, waiting at next petrol bunk for over 15 mins for a passenger. As per the crew, this passenger made online booking but due to a power failure, their office was not aware of this.

They were picking and dropping each and every possible local passengers from Arcot, Vellore, Ambur (10+mins, till TNSTC driver shouted at these guys). There was a 25 mins break sometime back and we are still not reached Krishnagiri.

Last time, I traveled in Seabird's 3.15pm bus which dropped me at Silkboard at 8.20pm with a 30mins dinner break.

There is only one driver and cleaner for this bus and the same guy will be driving this bus back to Chennai tonight from Majestic. As everyone knows, Sangita is "Sangita" only. Being this bus a "Bharati" I am feeling afraid to even book a Bharati bus ticket.

I still prefer Seabird 3pm dep bus over anything else as its much more reliable (Being a Goa bus)

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

There is only one driver and cleaner for this bus and the same guy will be driving this bus back to Chennai tonight from Majestic. As everyone knows, Sangita is "Sangita" only. Being this bus a "Bharati" I am feeling afraid to even book a Bharati bus ticket.

Only the bus is Bharathi - the operation is of Sangita. Bharathi is a very good operator - a typical no-nonsense operator. BTW, what colour is the bus? Bharathi had hired out their old BLR-TVM Multi-Axle to Sangita - now, Bharathi has resumed BLR-TVM.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Only the bus is Bharathi - the operation is of Sangita. Bharathi is a very good operator - a typical no-nonsense operator. BTW, what colour is the bus? Bharathi had hired out their old BLR-TVM Multi-Axle to Sangita - now, Bharathi has resumed BLR-TVM.

Its regn number is KA * 1010. Saw another similar (brown, pair bus) Bharati-Sangita going towards Chennai sometime back during that break. Now its quite fast and reaching Hosur.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Its regn number is KA * 1010. Saw another similar (brown, pair bus) Bharati-Sangita going towards Chennai sometime back during that break. Now its quite fast and reaching Hosur.

KA-07-A-1010. This one:


Its pair is KA-07-A-1000:


These buses were running on the Bangalore-Trivandrum route earlier. So guess Bharathi has got new buses for the route now.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by binaiks

These buses were running on the Bangalore-Trivandrum route earlier. So guess Bharathi has got new buses for the route now.

Thanks Binai for the pics, this is the same bus (You have a very good collection!). Now the "SANGITA" name appears on front and rear.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Sangita Travels

Unless I'm left with absolutely no other option, I will not go anywhere close to a Sangita bus. The bus might look good outside, but you never know what's inside. Even if it is good inside and outside, the trip will make you repent. I wonder how they stay afloat with such a pathetic setup!

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Unless I'm left with absolutely no other option, I will not go anywhere close to a Sangita bus. The bus might look good outside, but you never know what's inside. Even if it is good inside and outside, the trip will make you repent. I wonder how they stay afloat with such a pathetic setup!

I don't regret since we can take chances only when not in a hurry

I had very good experience with Seabird's service but just wanted to check another operator. If it reached Bangalore ahead of Seabird, that was a bonus.

Had GeePee multi axle in mind for the last few trips but booked Sangita last minute. This GeePee bus was behind us all the way from Arcot till Electronic city and saw it here and there on the way. Both the buses went under the elevated way where Seabird went on elevated highway.

I would blame Redbus too to some extent for this. The same departure is listed with different time in their website under different agencies. They should have some mechanism to check this else their reliability too will be spoiled.

[coriollis]

Just completed a return journey to Bangalore from Pune two days back. Had booked on 1505 Pune-Mysore trip for onward and next day return on the 1305 Mysore-Pune bus Boarding at Majestic.
Got a decent 10% discount on the return journey fare, So amounting my total fare to Rs 1759/- For the whole trip on a multiaxle ride.
The trip was completed without any hassles and nasty surprises. Over all I find KSRTC to be very reliable and safe.
Few Of the positives :
1.Ease of booking.
2.Return Journey discount.
3.Very clean exteriors as well as interiors. Half liter Water bottle was provided, and on request some extra was also available.
4.Only one movie shown till dinner break and then light music played for about an hour.The sound system was excellent.
5.Very sedate driving

Few of the negatives:
1.On the return journey blankets provided on board were not washed.

Here I need to elaborate one thing about Onward journey:
Both the Drivers 1)Mr Gowda 2) Mr Sekara were excellent in handling the machine.
Mr Gowda took over from dinner near Belgaum till Bangalore.I was with him for company till Haveri. He only uses lighter Service horn in the night. He told me that he was aware that people use this service to reach at the destinations early mornings and be fresh to rejoin work. If he brakes hard or swivels a lot and honks as well people will not have sound sleep ... I was floored by his commitment towards his job.He as well as Mr Sekara are with KSRTC from 1984-85
He also told some information new to me. All Volvo's have nitrogen in there tires to prolong life and safety. He extracts around 4kmpl from this mammoth and this is worth appreciation.
All said and done,
Reached Yesvanthpur at 04:40 sharp. This was done with maximum speeds of 90kmph only.

Return Journey was also pleasant with We starting at 17:45 and reaching Swargate at 08:35 next day.

This whole can be summarized in one sentence..
KSRTC have gained a permanent customer.

Cheers!

[ramzsys]

Have any of you enquired the crew about the FE of these buses(B7R, B9R, 12M)?

How much is the FE affected by AC?

[gold class]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Only the bus is Bharathi - the operation is of Sangita. Bharathi is a very good operator - a typical no-nonsense operator. BTW, what colour is the bus? Bharathi had hired out their old BLR-TVM Multi-Axle to Sangita - now, Bharathi has resumed BLR-TVM.

The bus Bharati is operating now is a Multi Axle volvo AP registered. This was first owned by Diwakar Travels and was plying on MUM-HYD. Later on, starting of this year Meenakshi Travels got it from Diwakar and started to ply on BLR-HYD.
Now the same bus is sold to Bharati by Meenashki .Attached is the Photos.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by coriollis

The trip was completed without any hassles and nasty surprises. Over all I find KSRTC to be very reliable and safe.

KSRTC have gained a permanent customer.

Cheers!

Quite agree with you based on the innumerable trips I have done on KaSRTC Volvos... Clean buses, usually on time and good sedate driving letting passengers sleep peacefully... My only grievance with the Airavats is the lack of leg room for long journeys.. For 5-7 hours it is ok but for longer journeys I find it uncomfortable.

[TKMCE]

Travelled Bangalore Trivandrum last night. After having read Aroon Anands experience on SRS decided to stay clear of them , but I did notice that they (SRS) seem to be the most dynamic of the lot in terms of pricing - they were selling at Rs 850 on the last day for the multi axle, all the rest were selling at 1000 or more. They also seem to have a droppping point at Technpark.

Finally decided to go by KPNs first multi axle on the Nagercoil route leaving Wilson Garden at 7 PM. They also have multi axles at 8 and 9 PM and an AC sleeper at 6.30 and a non AC at 3.30 PM on the route. Their multi axle service via EKM leaves at 6 PM
First the bad part. I reached Wilson Garden the starting point at 6.15. On checking their website , I saw that the AC sleeper was quite full (all lower berths taken) while the 7 , 8 and 9 PM Volvos all had between 10-15 seats taken . Went to ther office on the main road next to BMTC and was told to go to the parking bay (where they have another office) to get the ticket. On reaching there, saw a chart with all the bus numbers and while the 7 and 9 PM buses had their bus nos listed, the 8 PM bus no was blank which led me to assume that it would be cancelled. Went inside to buy the ticket only to be directed back to the earlier office as their systems were down. At 6.20 PM, I got the ticket for the 7PM bus- charge was Rs 1010 (web is more expensive by 75 Rs). Shortly after the 6.30 PM AC sleeper departed.

Now came the irritating part. They were announcing many departures, but 3 of us who were to board the 7PM bus from Wilson Garden were all told to wait. Meanwhile the bus which was parked in the yard all ready for departure suddenly had its lights switched off and crew was seen taking a break. After 10-15 min of "wait/wait", had enough and asked at the desk when/if the bus will depart and was told it would leave now at 8 PM, They had decided to cancel the 7 PM instead of the 8 PM bus, When asked why even at 6.20 PM when I was booking the ticket, I was not told this so that I could have booked the 6.30 PM sleeper which still had not left and had seats available, they had no answer!!! Anyway around 1945 , they gave us the new seat numbers (I was given the window seat immediately behind the row which I originally booked).

After that,the experience was all positive. Bus left sharp at 8 PM. It was a new bus , very clean inside and out, and the seats were also well maintained, Played a Tamil movie, and there wa a pick up at 8.30 from Bommanahalli . Even with the combination of buses, the bus was only 75% full and I had both seats to myself. Stopped for dinner at the Ananda Bhavan/Mc Outlet and reached Salem at 12.45. Departed Salem at 0115 after refuelling and the second driver joined from their and took over. Excellent driving by this person and we reached Tirunelvely by 5.30 and Trivandrum at 8.30, Overall 12.30 hours end to end, We overtook a lot of Volvos incuding the SRS B9R, hence no idea if the 1830 sleeper bus was also overtaken. Parcels were loaded only at Hosur, and this was co-rdinated well and we lost only abt 10-15 min.

Will I recommend this service- answer is Defintiely Yes especially on a FRI where there will be no cancellations. The 7 PM service should reach by 7 AM or earlier. Even on a half empty bus, there was no waiting around to pick up passengers for the empty seats. I have been travelling KPN for more than 15 years and there was a marked deterioration of service at one point but now they seem to have got the act together again, attleast as far as the Volvos are concerned.

Coolclouds
The Geepe Bus on Chennai Bangalore in the afternoon operates Chennai Mumbai via BLR.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[Ashley2]

Travelled from Pune - Blore - Chennai (yesterday):

Though this was a single ticket journey, it was a multi operator journey.
I booked tickets throu' redbus and it showed a operator called AP travels, Raj travels etc. But since Raj travels mentioned, as Via Blore I booked AP travels(assuming that it's a direct to chennai).
Later I understood, this AP travels is a letter pad travels and does not own any bus. They book tickets for National travels and Jabbar travels.
Unusually this letter pad operator also has a website - very professional. So from here the journey is split between Pune - Blore, Blore - Chennai.

Pune - Blore: National Travels:
My boarding point was Katraj and I was coming from FC road. Assuming that there will be delay in departure as this bus comes from Mumbai, I was casual and reached only by 5.30pm. But to my surprise the bus was already there and they were waiting for me.
My luggage's were quickly loaded inside the belly and was given a token. First good point!
Coach was maintained in immaculate condition. No scratches, no dirts and even the wheel bolt covers were a chrome plated one as against the normal painted ones.

Image source:

Next we started moving and the driver was very casual in driving, no hard acceleration even in the hill and bends, and was driving easy. Played some hindi movies. Dinner was in some hotel. It was relatively good. But even after dinner they played movie till it gets completed, which I really did'nt like as even the print was a camera print and so clarity was very bad. With all lights switched off it was really bad, that too seeing from the second row .
First bad thing
One important thing was there was very little use of horn and driver managed with headlight dipper. Also when he used horn he did'nt use pam-param-pam-pam-param-pa-pam and was using only pe-pe-pe-pe kind.
(read as no high end electronic ones and used only normal electric ones which comes as OE fitted in many cars).
Second good thing
This was actually proving good, as I was seated in the second row from front. Due to this I had a complete sleep for about 8 hrs - yes from 10 PM to 6.15 AM until it reached Majestic. And finally I was dropped at Kalasipalayam at 6.30AM. Dot on punctuality.
Third good thing.
Till now it was good. But later I was told the bus to chennai will come only by 8.30AM , but in ticket it was mentioned as 7AM and so I will have to wait. I did'nt argue but refreshed myself and was waiting.

Blore-Chennai : Seabird Tourist:
By 8.30AM we were asked to board a yellow B7R Seabird , and was taken to Anand roa circle. There we were asked to board another white B9R Seabird.
When I boarded inside fellow passengers told they have boarded at 7.30AM it self and are doing a sightseeing since then. Me too joined the band wagon and reached Madiwala by 10.AM.By 10.15 AM we left from there.
From then the bus was literally flying(took BETL), we reached 3.15PM at Omni bus stand.
Its just 5 hrs from Madiwala to Chennai(read as chennai as Omni bus stand and not as Poonamallee), including 30 min for a break fast gap at12.00Noon.
This is the same bus I travelled.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Last time, I traveled in Seabird's 3.15pm bus which dropped me at Silkboard at 8.20pm with a 30mins dinner break.
There is only one driver and cleaner for this bus and the same guy will be driving this bus back to Chennai tonight from Majestic.

Here the same crew travelled back, but from your words can I conclude they do three trips per day?

Over all I will recommend National travels and Seabird seperately but not for a complete trip from Pune to chennai, as our scheduled arrival at Chennai was at 11.55AM but reached only by 3.15PM.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

...... Even on a half empty bus, there was no waiting around to pick up passengers for the empty seats. I have been travelling KPN for more than 15 years and there was a marked deterioration of service at one point but now they seem to have got the act together again, attleast as far as the Volvos are concerned.

KPN never look for onward passenger and this is the same story for the past ten years atleast, AFAIK.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Coolclouds
The Geepe Bus on Chennai Bangalore in the afternoon operates Chennai Mumbai via BLR.

Yes. As per Redbus, this bus should reach Madiwala at 8.55 for onward journey to Mumbai.

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Here the same crew travelled back, but from your words can I conclude they do three trips per day?

No. I hope they do two trips (Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai), around 700 kms a day in 16 hours approx without any rest. This bus depart from Chennai at 2.30 pm, reach Bangalore by 11pm or so, return to Chennai and end trip at around 6-7am. (I guess)

In other words, a 10-11 hours journey done in 16 hrs

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Now came the irritating part. They were announcing many departures, but 3 of us who were to board the 7PM bus from Wilson Garden were all told to wait. Meanwhile the bus which was parked in the yard all ready for departure suddenly had its lights switched off and crew was seen taking a break. After 10-15 min of "wait/wait", had enough and asked at the desk when/if the bus will depart and was told it would leave now at 8 PM, They had decided to cancel the 7 PM instead of the 8 PM bus

KPN has started this new habit of cancelling buses if there are no passengers. They are almost regularly cancelling their Ernakulam-Hyderabad services these days. Earlier I had seen KPN departing even if they had no passengers at all. The best point is that they do not keep scouting for passengers. In my latest experience with them, they ran their B9R from Ernakulam to Chennai with a grand total of 9 passengers on board!