[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I am 100% with you on the objective of any business.

In 2006, I went to see off my wife at Cochin airport but finally traveled with her till Mumbai. I went to a travel guy just outside airport for a ticket to Bangalore. He arranged a Non A/c bus ticket in Sharma Travels (IIRC) along with some other guys returning from middle east at a whopping rate of Rs. 1100. We paid as none or us were frequent travelers and later I realized that even Volvo buses were charging just ~Rs. 750 (IIRC) on that route! How will we justify them?

That was a local agent making a quick buck, not the operator. Same thing happened to my uncle at BLR railway station for a ticket to Pune - paid almost double. We are talking about operators prcing higher on days where the market can bear it to recover their overall costs.

BINAIKS- APSRTC may charge higher by 50 or 100 Rs but as long as they are "democratic" and do not charge close to what the market can bear on peak days , they still will find it difficult to recover costs. And I guess you never watch prime time shows priced higher than off peak shows in a multiplex as well because of your democratic nature.

Price Discrimination is here to stay whether you like it or not!!!

[dhandapanik]

Coimbatore-Bangalore Travel in Hindusthan Travels:



Due to last minute travel plan, i couldnt able to get a ticket for an overnight bus from Coimbatore/Pollachi to Bangalore on 9-Sep-12(Sunday). After some thoughts, i tried booking in Hindusthan travels day time bus which starts from Coimbatore Omni BS at 12.30 PM. Due to some issues in their website, the booking got failed thrice. Then called to their HO and even talked to their technical team. Got a strange error from their web config file. Finally their tech team advised me to book the ticket through redbus. Ticket booking in redbus went fine and it was my first ticket booking through redbus.

Redbus sent a reminder SMS to my mobile before 2.5 hours of the departure. This is a really a good point to note.

Started from my home by 9.00 AM and reached Pollachi. Now-a-days(earlier too. ) Private buses in this route are too rash, hence took a TNSTC-Coimbatore bus and reached coimbatore(Ukkadam) BS by 10.40 AM. After doing some clicks boarded an SLF to Gandhipuram BS. The bus which dropped me in ukkadam BS was standing in Gandhipuram BS for proceeding to Salem.

After doing some fanning in Gandhipuram(Mofussil and City), then took a city bus to reach Omni Bus stand. By then, Hindusthan's Chennai bus was standing there and it was around 50% full. By 12.20 PM, Bangalore bus reached Omni BS and boarding started immediately. Expected their I-Shift, but KA01 AB 2652 turned out and this is the same bus in which i went to Bangalore from Coimbatore in my last travel. Interiors looked clean and i took the first seat to enjoy the day travel. But the curtains came down once it started and totally disappointed with this. :(

Online booking were for 30 passengers, 3 from Salem and 1 from avinashi. 13 boarded from Omni BS, around 8 boarded from Nava India and finally 5 from Hope college. one person didnt turned out.

One passenger didnt come on time and the crews gave a call to the passnger. He didnt attend the call and before few minutes of the arrival he came and simply said, he didnt attend the call because he was on the way. What a reason? We started fron Nava India from 12.55 and we were out of the city in 10 min. Before moving out, the crews were advised to take the people from Salem and Avinashi. Before reaching avniashi our driver called the person who is boarding there and informed him that we will be there in half an hour or so. Driver used mobile in few occassions and this is not right thing to do.

We had a lunch stop for around half an hour in Hotel Aryaas(Highway Inn) near Perundhurai. The place was very neat and spotted Chennai bound Hindusthan Travels, Day time Kallada to Bangalore and Kallada-National's Mumbai service.

We reached salem by 4.00 PM and 7 to 8 ppl got inside and the 2 persons who booked online arrived 10 min late. Worst thing is the cleaner started shouting "Bangalore..Bangalore" inside Salem BS. But none turned out. We ran Non-Stop till Attibelle and we stopped there for few mins in the road side for nature call. We reached Electronic city by 7.45 PM and took the elevated highway. I was dropped in Double road by 7.45 PM.

Overall a comfortable Journey. But we had two long breaks, One in the motel and the other in Salem. Departure time should be adjusted to start by 1.30 PM or so. Ticket booking experience in their site is not good as expected. Failed 3 attempts and booked in a third party site.

My return trip was in Bangalore-Pollachi service of ABT. Let me post the review soon.

At their Nava India office:

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

We reached Electronic city by 7.45 PM and took the elevated highway. I was dropped in Double road by 7.45 PM.
My return trip was in Bangalore-Pollachi service of ABT. Let me post the review soon

I guess you were dropped in double road by 8.45 PM.

One of my friend boarded ABT(at Hopes) from Coimbatore at 10:50 pm, and bus reached Silk board by 4:30 pm. Impressive timing, i would say!

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

I guess you were dropped in double road by 8.45 PM.

One of my friend boarded ABT(at Hopes) from Coimbatore at 10:50 pm, and bus reached Silk board by 4:30 pm. Impressive timing, i would say!

I wrongly typed it as 7.45 PM. I was dropped there by 8.15 PM. I didnt take 1 hr to reach double road.

Bangalore-Pollachi in ABT X Travels

Before moving to the review, let me share some details about the new buses which was spotted in Shanthi Nagar.

Due to BMTC strike, i have started from hotel a bit early. Took an auto to reach Shanthi Nagar and a hefty amount was charged. Still the meter was switched on and when i got down it showed Rs.60 and the amount which i paid was thrice. :(

Went there mainly to see the new UDs of SETC and the how the crowd is reacting for the KSRTC strike. First time saw that Shanthi Nagar is less crowded and that too on friday evening. Few KSRTC buses came in with temporary staffs. Around 10 new 12M UDs of SETC's Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Nagai, Tanjore, Pondy and Chennai depots were waiting for their departure. Crews in few of the above buses were shouting for passengers. In most of the routes, only 36 seats were configured for booking, but the bus actually has 43 seats. Even in some routes which were started with these new 12M buses has got them configured as 40 seats in online reservation.

New 12M buses were now waiting with boards to Mailaduthurai, Trichy, Chennai(Via Chitoor and also Vellore), Coimbatore, Madurai, Bodi, Trichy, Pondy, Tirunallar etc..,

Again took an Auto to reach ABT's Madiwala office. Reached there by 9.20 PM. When i enquired, people in the ABT office said, the bus to Pollachi will reach Madiwala by 9.45 PM. Got the boarding pass and waited in the road for few mins and the bus reached Madiwala by 9.50 PM. KA53 4507 turned out and interiors were kept so clean. Two drivers were on board. Boarding started immediately and around 5 passengers were there when it reached Madiwala. Finally we started by 10.05 PM and the bus was almost full. We took the electronic city elevated toll road. Went to sleep after crossing Electronic city. The bus went via Tirupur, Udumalpet. Bus was 65% empty when we started from Udumalpet. Looks like these three places contributing equally. Finally got down in my native which is in Udumalpet-Pollachi highway by 6.05 AM.

Yet again a comfortable journey with ABT. This was their Non-Semi Sleeper bus. ABT, Its time for replacement. Eventhough the maintenance is good, they should replace their buses at regular intervals to retain their regular customers.

The fare was Rs.641 and after diesel hike it is increased to Rs.660

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

Again took an Auto to reach ABT's Madiwala office. Reached there by 9.20 PM. When i enquired, people in the ABT office said, the bus to Pollachi will reach Madiwala by 9.45 PM. Got the boarding pass and waited in the road for few mins and the bus reached Madiwala by 9.50 PM.

When was this trip? Please do mention dates, wherever possible.

Was this on September 14 (Friday)? I was at Madiwala on Friday till around 2130hrs - I was near the ABT office only. If this was on Friday, we narrowly missed meeting each other.

[dhandapanik]

Originally Posted by binaiks

When was this trip? Please do mention dates, wherever possible.

Was this on September 14 (Friday)? I was at Madiwala on Friday till around 2130hrs - I was near the ABT office only. If this was on Friday, we narrowly missed meeting each other.

It was on 14th September(friday) only. Sorry that i missed the date. I could have messaged you. :( I'll add it in future reviews.

I was standing near ABT office for half an hour. And was roaming near that area.

You were there for Kallada G4's Maiden trip?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by dhandapanik

You were there for Kallada G4's Maiden trip?

I was there till the bus went. After that I was with my friend, near the Shama Transports office. I think I had seen you bus as well.

[Vancho]

I had a chance to travel to Cochin from Bangalore over the weekend.
I am a fan of KaSRTC's airavat service and hence there was no second thoughts while booking the ticket.
For the onward journey, I had booked a ticket on Airavat Merc Multi axle service (1944 BNGERN). I was excited as this was my first experience in a Merc Multi Axle.
My journey was on 21st of september and my boarding point was Electronics City BMTC depot. Though the scheduled arrival time was 20 15 hrs, the bus arrived a good one hour late. The first look of the bus was impressive and the interiors were clean and fresh. The ride was comfortable with no over speeding whatsoever.
The first stop after EC was at the KA-TN border where some luggage was picked up. It was rather amusing to see the conductor and driver bargaining with the fellow to grab the last penny he had. Not sure whether all that went into their pockets. At hosur, the conductor got down and collected some bills from another guy. Is it some way to evade tax and pocket a few extra bucks?
The bus stopped for dinner at McD in Shoolagiri. This is when I got a good look at the bus. The bus was maintained well though I was shocked to see a crack running right across the windshield. They was some sort of a black patch used to cover the crack and that fell right in the line of sight of the driver.
I could do nothing much other than pray and go off to sleep. I felt the roads were good beyond Krishnagiri and fell asleep soon after. I got up only when I reached Mannuthy. I realised that most of the delay had been made up during the journey and they dropped me at Edapally by 06 40 hrs.
Merc on the whole failed to impress me in comparison with Volvo.

My return journey was scheduled on sunday 23rd September and I was to board 1605 TRIBNG Airavat Club Class 9400 to Bangalore at vytilla. The scheduled departure time was 21 00 hrs and the bus was there bang on time. The only concern during the journey was my seat. I had a window seat in the penultimate row. I knew it was going to be tough.
The bus stopped after Angamaly for dinner. I think its a regular stop for all the buses since I found a few Kalladas, KaSRTCs and a Bharati there. The ride was not as bad as I thought. But little did I know what lay ahead. I had read a lot on this thread about the state of road at Kuthiran. I experinced it the hard way. I fell asleep after a long time once the roads got better. I reached my destination at around 06 45 hrs.

It was an enjoyable journey for most parts as I am used to the 'Spine Shattering' rides to Thalassery with my 'Bed bug' companions.

[denver85]

Bangalore – Ernakulam in KaSRTC Airavat Mercedes Benz multi-axle (Wednesday, 26 September)
I got an urgent need to travel Ernakulam to reach there at Thursday morning. I have been using the the Airavat service by KaSRTC for last 2 years. Impressed by their courteous staff and sedate driving style. Used their service extensively to my native and to travel other places.
Gone through the website and found lot of tickets still remaining as it was not a Friday.Booked one with seat no:21.

The detail of the travel is given below:
Bus : Mercedes Benz Multi-Axle. The interiors were clean. Outside also looks neat. The odo was reading 195695 when at Santinagar Bus staion.
Bus number: KA 01 F 9260
Scheduled Departure time: 07:45 PM
Santinagar bus station (7:15 PM to 7:55 PM):When I reached Santinagar at 7:15, the bus was already in the platform. Bus waiting for the passengers, this was my first experience like this. But the AC was not switched on. It was like an oven inside, so got out immediately after keeping the luggage. (Some 3-4 folks were still sitting there ). Conductor came and checked the ticket, as soon as this was done they have switched on the AC (7:30 PM). The bus left Santinagar at 7:55 with 17 passengers on board. They have played a very nice Hindi movie ‘Karan Arjun’.
St.Johns Hospital (8:41 PM): Thanks to the famous Bangalore traffic, it took around 45 minutes to travel 4.5 kms . 6 persons boarded. Total of 21 persons in a 49 seater.
Electronic City (9:02 PM): No persons boarded.
Hosur (9:39 PM): No persons boarded. I was very happy to use both seats to compromise the infamous reduced legroom in Mercs.
Shoolagiri MacDonald’s (10:00 PM): They have switched off the AC and put the movie on ‘Pause’. Switched on the AC at 10:20 PM and started from there by 10:27 PM. Slept after the movie completed.
Walayar (3:38 AM): Stopped at Bakery just before the Walayar border. Woke up hearing the loud sound from the shop attendant. Started at 3:48 AM. The did not switch off the AC.

Palakkad (4:28 AM- 4:33 AM): Gone inside the town and unloaded some luggage. Two passengers got down.
Thrissur (6:00 AM): Went inside the KSRTC bus stand. 4 Passengers got down. The conductor was looking for some passengers to Ernakulam and none came in.
Edappally Junction (7:16 AM): I got down here.

extensively The journey was excellent. The driver was not at all rash. He never used horn in night and there were any sudden jerk/braking felt inside the bus. The timing was also Perfect (at least for me).

Highly recommended !!!!

[Sridhar K]

Did two trips in the last one and half months
a) 10 PM Bangalore - Chennai - SRM a/c sleeper
The Bus was supposed to reach at 10:25 PM at Madivala. It was raining cats and dogs that day in Bangalore and hence bus reached Madivala at 10:45 only. There was hardly any place to stand in SRM's Madivala office and fortunately the rains stopped for us to board the bus. We started at 10:55 and the bus stopped at Hosur to pick a few up. The driver seemed a bit irritated and was swerving left and right in the Hosur Krishnagiri stretch frequently. Post Krishnagiri, he drove very nicely but the bus got punctured right before the Pallikonda toll. After 20 minutes to change the tyres, the bus started and reached SRM Koyambedu office at 5:30 AM after being stuck in traffic near the Koyambedu bus terminus. Overall it was a ok ride. The only issue was the drivers seems to switch off the a/c some time to get some additional power for overtakes. The bus had a Veera body and the ride quality pretty good.

b) Kumbakonam-Chennai- Rathimeena a/c sleeper via ECR
The bus started at K. Konam at 11:00 and reached Guindy via ECR at 5:00. The driving was super smooth with hardly any breaking. The bus stopped in Pondy for refuelling at a petrol bunk. The Hino engine on this bus was super silent at cruising speeds. The bus had a Prakash body.

From all my trips over the years, the AL 12M seems to be very good with respect to the ride quality and the engine smoothness but the gear shifts is one area it needs to catch up with Volvos. Perhaps auto trannys on 12M will improve the ride comfort to the next level.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by denver85

Bangalore – Ernakulam in KaSRTC Airavat Mercedes Benz multi-axle (Wednesday, 26 September)... Hindi movie ‘Karan Arjun’...
Walayar (3:38 AM): Stopped at Bakery just before the Walayar border. Woke up hearing the loud sound from the shop attendant. Started at 3:48 AM. The did not switch off the AC.

Palakkad (4:28 AM- 4:33 AM): Gone inside the town and unloaded some luggage. Two passengers got down...
Edappally Junction (7:16 AM): I got down here.

Seems they play the same movie all through the week. My friend who travelled in this same service on friday (28th Sep) told me that the movie was Karan Arjun.

What I like about this service is, the cleanliness.
What I don't like is, they take 2 or 3 breaks between Bangalore and Palakkad. The time mentioned in the website is misleading. I had to travel to Palakkad, and be there in the wee hours. I booked this bus thinking it'd drop me at least by 3:30am, going by the timings mentioned in the website. But they took an hour extra. About the driving, I clearly remember the driver(s) lugging the engine.

That was about 6 months ago

[venki.bala]

Has anyone travelled recently in Chennai - Hyderabad VRL Volvo that starts from Koyambedu at 7.35 pm? I always take Dhanunjaya 8 PM volvo. Never have any complaints against them, they always leave on time and journey is always comfortable. I want to try VRL this time as the price is much lower than all other volvo's and dep time being 25 mins earlier. Any pointers about other service providers would also be helpful. I am travelling back from chennai on Oct 7th.

[Archish]

Originally Posted by venki.bala

Has anyone travelled recently in Chennai - Hyderabad VRL Volvo that starts from Koyambedu at 7.35 pm? I always take Dhanunjaya 8 PM volvo. Never have any complaints against them, they always leave on time and journey is always comfortable. I want to try VRL this time as the price is much lower than all other volvo's and dep time being 25 mins earlier. Any pointers about other service providers would also be helpful. I am travelling back from chennai on Oct 7th.

My friend worked in Hyd for about 6 months and would travel to Chennai 2-3 times a month. He used VRL almost everytime and always gave good feed back. But i have never personally travelled. He used to say the it was the most cost-effective and on-time service.

[SafeDrive]

I just travelled from Trivandrum to Chennai in Betheleham Travels. It's a multi-axle Merc with a toilet. The service starts from TVM at 07:00 p.m. and we reached Tambaram a little after 06:00 a.m. The bus was nice and comfy and each seat had individual entertainment systems with multiple choices . Did not use the toilet but was nice to know that it was there if required.
The only the fault was that they did not have a dinner stop, so have your food before boarding.

[ecenandu]

Hey, when did KTC start their Chennai - Calicut service? I saw the bus yesterday near Mahabalipuram.