[a4anurag]

Hello guys.

Sharing my experience of my travel from Hyderabad to Chennai and back to Hyderabad.

Hyderabad to Chennai

I had no choice but a last and a hurried decision for the travel and being a Sunday (06.01.13) I was not getting any tickets to Chennai. Put a request at Redbus website. Got a message saying Sardar Travels has a ticket left for booking. Pounced on it and booked the bus. A Non-A/C semi sleeper.

The departure timing was at 21:00 at Afzalgunj. Reached the spot at 20:20 and went to their counter. To my shock I was not even heard and entertained by the head at the counter. He rudely said wait for the bus as it will come at 21:00. Was not given a chair to sit and the mosquitoes were biting and feasting on me. Finally at 21:00 the bus came and departure was within 15 min.

Old movies were being shown and half the passengers fell asleep seeing the movie choice. Mithun Chakraborthy's Hatyara! The driver was in his mid 40's and was slow.In the hilly sector the bus was struggling to pull. The bus was stopped by the RTO officials for 45 min due to lack of some papers. At 7 am in the morning seeing the roads I thought I was in Chennai and will be off the bus soon but a distance board came and said "CHENNAI – 103 kms". I was disappointed seeing that. After this point he stopped for relaxing for about 20 mins. Driver was changed here and the average speed of the bus ow went up considerably with the new driver. At 12:30, we all were dropped off at Koyembedu Private Omni bus stand.

Overall a horrible boring and long tiring journey. As I am tall I was not comfortable in the seats of these buses as compared to the Volvo Multi Axle's. I love the Volvo's more now a days.

Chennai to Hyderabad

Chose Kesineni Travels as always. The bus was a light green Volvo 9400 multi axle (AP 16 TB 8000) with the same driver as last time when I visited. The odo was 9.2 lakh kms now with one rebuild. This was what the driver said. If this is true about the rebuild then I feel the volvo have a very good reliability.

Nothing much to write about this journey as it was a peaceful and good one.

The bus left Chennai at 22:00 and reached Hyderabad at 09:00. Khaleja was the movie shown.

A point that I saw was Bailey water bottles were provided by both the operators.

Cheers,
Anurag.

[DWind]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

At 7 am in the morning seeing the roads I thought I was in Chennai and will be off the bus soon but a distance board came and said "CHENNAI – 103 kms". I was disappointed seeing that. After this point he stopped for relaxing for about 20 mins. Driver was changed here and the average speed of the bus ow went up considerably with the new driver. At 12:30, we all were dropped off at Koyembedu Private Omni bus stand.

Cant Believe it would take 4.5 hours to reach the last 100 KMs. Are you sure of the distance marker?

[binaiks]

Did a back-to-back Kallada G4 run to Thrissur and Back from Bangalore over the past weekend.

Outward trip: (January 05, 2013)
The bus journey was completely unplanned - I had planned to go with my brother in his car on Saturday morning - but some unexpected official program came in and had to stay back. The work was expected to continue till late Sunday, but thankfully got over on Saturday evening itself. I wanted to try SPS, but their departure was too early for my liking - I called up Friends Travels Madiwala, and they happily blocked a seat for me.

Reported at their office at 2100hrs for a 2200hrs departure (had nothing to do at home, and there was no traffic block either - so reached there in under 15 minutes from home). Paid for my ticket and got the boarding pass. The bus was already parked outside (it did not go to Kalasipalya for pickup that evening - passengers from there were brought in another operators' bus), but boarding did not commence until 2245hrs. Two other buses of Kallada G4 were boarding at that time - one to Pathanapuram (via Alappuzha) and one to Trivandrum (via Nagercoil).

I finally got into the bus at 2155hrs. The bus was KA-01-AB-5737, delivered in August 2012. The bus had about 88K kms on the odo. Started off from Madiwala at 2205hrs (5 mins late) - late due to an unreported passenger. We reached Hosur at 2242hrs (one passenger got in). No more pick ups after this. This bus does not take any dinner break too. I was too tired after all the running around at office, and slept soon after Hosur. I vaguely remember seeing the bus pass Krishnagiri toll (sometime around 2330hrs). I slept through the journey, and woke up only when the bus stopped at Palakkad to drop passengers - 0456hrs!! The bus took the Ottapalam-Shornur route (regular route for this bus) and reached Thrissur at 0620hrs (Scheduled time - 0430hrs). End-to-end ride took 8h15m. Driving was seriously good - no honking at night. The buses are speed-locked at 100kmph. Kallada G4 crew are generally good as well.

I'll rate the service 4/5 - recommended.

Return Trip: (January 07, 2013)

I had booked a ticket online well in advance for this trip (on the calculation that I'd go with my brother) - thankfully did not cancel the ticket even when some official work popped up. There is nothing to write about the online booking process - its just another TicketSimply powered website.

The scheduled departure of my bus (Kottayam-Ernakulam-Bangalore B9R of Kallada G4) was 2130hrs. Due to some traffic blocks, I reached the agent's office (City Travels, near Railway Station, Thrissur) only around 2120hrs. Directly went in and asked about my bus. His reply was, "How would I know? I'll tell if it comes". I was shocked to hear such a reply. After some time, the agent cooled down and said the bus normally comes only at 2230hrs - Heck! Why on earth do they ask passengers to report at 2115hrs then??

Left with no option, I rested inside my car (thankfully, my brother had come down to drop me). Clock ticked past 2230hrs, but no sign of the bus. I went back to him and asked, still the same old reply, "how would I know".. A Kallada G4 bus finally came in at 2310hrs - but, that was the bus scheduled to leave at 2245hrs! My bus, which was supposed to leave an hour and 15 minutes before this bus still was nowhere in sight! About 5 minutes later (2315hrs), my bus finally turned up. The bus was KA-01-AB-4601 (delivered in June 2012) with about 1.24lakhs on the odo.

The bus started off at 2330hrs - there was a lot of confusion about seating, with quite a few ladies given seats near gents, and some double-bookings. We reached Palakkad at 0100hrs (via Ottapalam) - some more confusion here since some passengers for seats already occupied turned up here. After all the confusion was settled, he had 49/49 passengers on board. Left Palakkad at 0105hrs. I slept like a log after Palakkad - vaguely remember seeing the bus stationary somewhere - no idea of place/time.

I woke up at 0600hrs, just as the bus was pulling into Krishnagiri toll gate. Slept for some more time. We crossed Hosur at 0701hrs. Reached Electronic City at 0723hrs - took the elevated highway, and reached Silk Board at 0731hrs. Their promised drop time at Madiwala is 0530hrs. The end-to-end run time was 8hours and one minute. Running time was great, but the experience waiting for the bus was horrendous.

I'll rate is a one on five - absolutely not recommended. I think the Pathanapuram-Bangalore bus is better in terms of punctuality.

[TKMCE]

Interesting to read Binaiks about your G4 experience on the return as I put my daughter on the same bus yesterday. I think what the trichur agent told you was correct. She had already booked the tickets on a 2100 "Kallada" which turned out actually to be the same G4 bus you took, the Kottayam Ernakulam Bangalore G4 service. Departed at 2115 from Aluva and reached at 6 AM at Silk Board. But my agent (Zam Zam travels) had uptodate information, told that the bus had only reached Kaloor by 8.30 and the bus reached by 21:15. The Pathanapuram bus (which incidentally according to the agent has a 2030 time ex Aluva) reached by 2050. There was a Viji service which left at 2030 dont know form where it starts which the agent seemed to be pushing agressively and for which she had already booked her next trip as wel, but I have shifted it to Kallada G4 on the earlier Pathanapuram departure as I dont want to take any chances with Viji after the horror stories about their driviing style in these forums.


In the end my operator of choice will always be KaSRTC esp the 2005 Merc from Ernakulam which does not touch Trichur bus stand. Binaiks, you can take the 1828 Ernakulam Bangalore MrErc which is scheduled to depart Trichiur at 2015 but wihich normally leaves by 8,45 - 9PM. And I believe the Bharathi service on the Changanacherry Ernakulam Bangalore service has now not operated for the last 4 months.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Departed at 2115 from Aluva and reached at 6 AM at Silk Board. But my agent (Zam Zam travels) had uptodate information, told that the bus had only reached Kaloor by 8.30 and the bus reached by 21:15. The Pathanapuram bus (which incidentally according to the agent has a 2030 time ex Aluva) reached by 2050. There was a Viji service which left at 2030 dont know form where it starts which the agent seemed to be pushing agressively and for which she had already booked her next trip as wel, but I have shifted it to Kallada G4 on the earlier Pathanapuram departure as I dont want to take any chances with Viji after the horror stories about their driviing style in these forums.

The Kottayam-Bangalore G4 leaves Kottayam at 6pm, and has a scheduled departure time at Aluva, 2020hrs. I should've read these timings properly before deciding to book that bus - 2020 departure from Aluva and 2130hrs arrival at Thrissur, including a dinner break would never ever work out.

The Pathanapuram bus leaves from Pathanapuram at 1600hrs, and is scheduled to leave Aluva at 2050hrs - that bus has a more realistic arrival time at Thrissur - 2245hrs.

Viji currently operates only one service - Pathanamthitta-Bangalore.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

In the end my operator of choice will always be KaSRTC esp the 2005 Merc from Ernakulam which does not touch Trichur bus stand. Binaiks, you can take the 1828 Ernakulam Bangalore MrErc which is scheduled to depart Trichiur at 2015 but wihich normally leaves by 8,45 - 9PM. And I believe the Bharathi service on the Changanacherry Ernakulam Bangalore service has now not operated for the last 4 months.

Bharathi stopped their service quite some time back. They ran as a special bus for some time - but then withdrew that as well. Now they run those buses to Chennai.

I am traveling by the 2131hrs Thrissur-Bangalore Airavat Club Class on Monday (14th) - my boss, who is a fairly regular passenger on this bus, vouches for its 6~6.30AM arrival at Majestic. I am making multiple trips this month, and would be trying the 1828EKM-BLR Merc as well (over the Republic day weekend). I've decided to avoid G4 in the Kerala-Bangalore route for now.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by binaiks

I am traveling by the 2131hrs Thrissur-Bangalore Airavat Club Class on Monday (14th) - my boss, who is a fairly regular passenger on this bus, vouches for its 6~6.30AM arrival at Majestic. I am making multiple trips this month, and would be trying the 1828EKM-BLR Merc as well (over the Republic day weekend). I've decided to avoid G4 in the Kerala-Bangalore route for now.

Binai, you are guaranteed a good sleep (unless you are seated way back in the rear, in which case you will hear the lugging engine begging to be downshifted) in KaSRTC, unless it is the road-rage driver who drove the 2145 BLR-EKM / 2035 EKM-BLR volvo

[TKMCE]

I think you had a one off Binaiks. My daughter just spoke to me and seemed to be very happy about her G4 experience (the same Kottayam bus you took). I want her to switch to KaSRTC but for a newbie in BLR and who cannot board from Shantinagar, for the time being private operators like G4 seems to be the safer option ex Madiwala as atleast there is someplace to wait unlike KaSRTC where you have to wait at St Johns in the BMTC stop.

Good thing about this agent I use (Zam Zam at Alwaye ) is that those guys do know most times exactly where a particular bus is getting held up so atleast there is no lack of information. They also have an agency for the KaSRTC buses although if you are travelling KaSRTC it is better to book your return as well from BLR and make use of the discount since they have a boarding point at Aluva. Never been let down even once by KaSRTC m in terms of missed pick up etc althought sometimes I have been the only pax to board from there.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

I think you had a one off Binaiks. My daughter just spoke to me and seemed to be very happy about her G4 experience (the same Kottayam bus you took). I want her to switch to KaSRTC but for a newbie in BLR and who cannot board from Shantinagar, for the time being private operators like G4 seems to be the safer option ex Madiwala as atleast there is someplace to wait unlike KaSRTC where you have to wait at St Johns in the BMTC stop.

I am a regular on G4's operations ex-Bangalore - never once has G4 let me down in their operations ex-Bangalore. I always suggest G4 for anybody traveling out of Bangalore, and I had even booked tickets for my boss twice in G4, and both the times he was impressed with the service - once my contacts even arranged a good seat for him on a peak day.

I had tried G4 on the TVM-Bangalore route, and I was satisfied with that too. But both my experience with G4 at Thrissur has been poor - the first time, I went to send off my dad, and that time too there was no information about the where the bus was or when it would reach. The experience was the same during my journey too.

Can you share what time your daughter reached Bangalore?

I booked G4 with a lot of expectations (based on my experiences ex-Bangalore), but they failed me badly. What ever, the issue has been informed to the owners directly, and they have promised to take some corrective issues - including altering the timings to reflect some reality and also providing phone number of the crew.

[dre@ms]

Sankranti time and the tatkal was a dream for anybody. To me as well. Tried for today and tomorrow with no luck. With no other choice, was hunting buses in redbus and as per the reviews chose Sri Krishna Travels from Hyderabad to Chennai from LB Nagar. There were other travels like omer/sardar but since the ratings were bad, didnt chose them.

Has anyone used this travels? Any reviews? I am travelling alone tomorrow. And the bus is Volvo A/C MultiAxle Semisleeper (2+2)

[TKMCE]

Can you share what time your daughter reached Bangalore?
*****

Binai, it was 6 AM when she reached and she seemed happy about the service. This was the bus which left 2115 at Aluva, so I guess the earlier bus would have reached before that. Now she has two more trips coming up and both are on G4 on the Pathanapuram service.

Infact I will be frank that it is mainly thanks to your feedback on this website as well as your blog and also some of the feedback given by the owners representative elsewhere in the net which I found quite proactive that I have asked her to book on G4, an operator I have not used myself. And ex BLR she has booked using Friends Travels as suggested by "Cool Clouds" and I believe you also use them .

It also helps that Zam Zam travels which I have been using for years at Aluva (just like some of you use Friends Travels) always seems to know where exactly the private buses they issue tickets on is getting held up if it is running late (they mention clearly that they cannot do the same for KaSRTC if you book through them). I guess it is the agent of G4 at Trichur which is letting them down. Maybe you should board ex Aluva where both Zam Zam and Sona, the two main agents are equally competent (but again they may not be obliged to help you if you are booking direct- the only operator with its own office in ALuva is Suresh Kallada but I have never booked through that office).

From my side now the priorities are only choosing an operator who is reliable . Now that Bharathi is no longer there and Parveen and VRL does not operate on Bangalore Kerala, there are not too many good operators left. Sharma,KPN , SRS are all hit and miss and the only SRM service reaches too early at Aluva .

[binaiks]

Kallada Tours and Travels (Suresh Kallada) is the first operator to take delivery of the Volvo 9400PX (Volvo B11R) in India. This bus is touted to be Asia's longest intercity coach. They took delivery of their first Volvo B11R on January 08, 2013 (second bus was delivered on January 10, 2013). The buses run on the Bangalore-Kollam (Via Alappuzha) route.

I had expressed my desire to be on the first trip to some important people on S.Kallada when the news of them taking the B11R surfaced for the first time. I was surprised when I got a message from the person that they are taking the delivery and he informed me on phone that he has blocked a seat for me as well. Nothing can be better than this.

The bus: KA-01-AC-0040, Volvo 9400PX (B11R) (334kms on the odo)
Date: January 11, 2013
Seat: #3 (First row, left side aisle seat)



Timeline of the journey:
Madiwala - 2030/2107
Electronic City Toll - 2131 pass
Attibelle Border - 2155/2200
Zuzuwadi TN (Incoming) Check post - 2210/2219
Hosur - 2229/2231 (S.Kallada office opposite to bus station)
Shoolagiri - 2253/2326 (Petrol Pump - Dinner and Refueling)
Perundurai - 0253/0308 (the regular Kallada fuel station - Refueling)
Walayar - 0455/0520 (Check Post)
Palakkad bypass (Chandranagar) - 0541
Mannuthy (Thrissur Bypass) - 0658

A total of 87 minutes was lost waiting at various places. Since the bus was on its maiden run, the bus had to stop at Attibelle to pay tax, and then again at Zuzuwadi checkpost for verification. The bus also needed to take a prolonged break at Walayar for tax payment - the fact that this vehicle was a "new model", the officers took their sweet time to accept payment. They had to stop the bus twice for refueling - at the first place (Shoolagiri) they filled fuel for some Rs 9000, then they topped up fuel at their regular place in Perundurai (that place is a heaven for Kallada lovers - there were some 5 multis including mine at that point of time). They also took a dinner break at Shoolagiri (thankfully, they stopped at a good place not that awful Uthaiyah). The departure from Madiwala itself was 36 minutes late (thanks to the inauguration - they distributed sweets to all passengers, informing individually that this is a new bus and this was the first trip) - to top up, one passenger turned up royally late.

Blankets were distributed in sealed packets (they claim the blanket will not be reused without washing/dry-cleaning - they had loaded 2 seats of blankets) along with 1ltr bottle of water and a 50g packet of Good Day biscuits (they said that these would be a standard feature in the B11R).

The end-to-end running time was bad - a good 9:51hrs for around 468kms. This includes the 87minutes (1:27hrs) lost waiting at various places - so the actual running time was only 8:24hrs, which is a decent running time. Shoolagiri to Perundurai is about 220-odd kms, which the bus covered in a shade over 3 hrs (there was horrible traffic upto Salem, due to Pongal vacatins), and Perundurai to Walayar (about 110-odd kms) covered in about 1:40hrs, almost entirely through two-lane roads (the bus took Chengampalli-Tiruppur-Palladam-CBE Bypass route).

This time, the crew were very careful about not wasting time - they did not indulge in unwanted chatter during breaks, no unwanted tea breaks - I really liked the crew. Both were in uniform - drove really well - no honks at night, and no hard braking.

About the bus: It is one brilliant product - the ride quality is improved over the B9R. The turning radius has improved seriously well - the bus took tight 90* turns in Tiruppur without any fuss (they did not have to reverse or even stop and see - it just glided through). The bus handled well on the 270* turn at Salem Flyover too - the driver took it at a fairly decent speed - there was no body roll, and the driver said he felt very confident with the way the bus handled. Top speed recorded was around 102kmph.

Some miscl points:
1. There was some issue with the DVD player - it kept switching off on itself.
2. There is no curtain seperating the crew section and the passenger section - I had an almost sleepless night with all the glare on my face. This model has a lot of FRP cladding in the driver cabin - there is no way they could put up the bracket for installing the curtain. They are working around an alternative - so curtains wouldn't be there for another couple of trips.
3. The bus has three drop down LCD panels. Speakers are the standard Volvo type installed in each passenger console. The mixer/amp unit is mounted on the driver dash itself.

[venki.bala]

Need to travel to Chidambaram in the last week of January. There is a direct Kesineni which reaches Chidamabaram at around 10 am. I would like to explore any other option to reach earlier than that. Is there any other choice like going to Vellore by 4 am? will it help if i take buses from there to Villupuram and then to Chidambaram. Any idea on the bus frequencies in this routes. Any pointers would really be appreciated? Thanks.

[Ashley2]

Is there a difference in ticket fare between B9R and B11R? Understand there is reduced takers for B11R, as it was offering not so interesting value proportion. 20 lks for 4 additional seats was way too high.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Is there a difference in ticket fare between B9R and B11R? Understand there is reduced takers for B11R, as it was offering not so interesting value proportion. 20 lks for 4 additional seats was way too high.

They are charging Rs. 50~100 more than the regular services - but the difference depends on the day as well - one some days the rates are the same for B11R and B9R.

From their first run, it seems the bus is giving better mileage than the B9Rs - the iShift is really making a difference for the driver. For the operator, there is an almost 50% increase in luggage space (around 40% extra). I was in the first row, so not sure of the extra legspace, but heard someone saying that the legspace is increased - so many passengers may prefer this bus over the 9R.

[TKMCE]

Slightly off topic... the good old double decker of KeSRTC is still doggedly running between Angamaly and Vytilla!!!! would like to rename it as the "shopping mall express"... Megamart after Kalamaserry, now Lulu about to start at the Edapally Byepass, then Oberon followed by Gold Souk and finally the Megamart at Vytilla!!! Luggage is no issue as bus is half empty most of the time. And it doesn't get into the pocket roads at HMT and Kalamassery like the Volvos do nor does it go into Aluva town.