[ampere]

Originally Posted by procrj

Anyone here who has recently driven Vellore - Katpadi - Gudiyattam - Venkatagirikote - Mulbagal - Hoskote? Looking for alternate routes for Pondy - Bangalore as I will driving back during the long weekend ending 29th Jan.

Do the regular NH4.

Arcot-Ranipet (cross the bridge after reaching Arcot)-Chitoor-Palamaner-Mulbagal-Kolar.

You have tolls between Bangalore and Mulbagal. But this will still be better than going to Vellore. (In my opinion)

[ravib]

In a long weekends, don't expect that the toll booth queues are shorter/faster in Mulbagal and Hoskote tolls. Even they are quite long and time consuming as well. Just that from a comparison perspective between Krishnagiri/Attibelle tolls they are little less but not truly a shorter queue at all. Just a word of caution.

-Ravi

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by ampere

Do the regular NH4.

Arcot-Ranipet (cross the bridge after reaching Arcot)-Chitoor-Palamaner-Mulbagal-Kolar.

You have tolls between Bangalore and Mulbagal. But this will still be better than going to Vellore. (In my opinion)

+1

If the starting point is anywhere from North or East of Bangalore, this is the shortest, fastest and least expensive route to Chennai. Only bottleneck is the ~60 KM drive between KA/AP border to Chittor, which is again a hit or miss depending on the time and day of traveling. Last Thursday evening, i drove to Bangalore taking this route and there was very sparse traffic. While returning back to Chennai on Sunday afternoon, I had to deal with the heavy traffic, most probably people returning to Bangalore after year end holidays. It becomes very difficult to overtake, if stuck behind a slow moving truck or bus.

After Chittor, it is a bliss to drive until you join NH48 either before Ranipet or after Walajapet.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by procrj

Anyone here who has recently driven Vellore - Katpadi - Gudiyattam - Venkatagirikote - Mulbagal - Hoskote? Looking for alternate routes for Pondy - Bangalore as I will driving back during the long weekend ending 29th Jan.

Originally Posted by ampere

Do the regular NH4...this will still be better than going to Vellore. (In my opinion)

Nope! Bangalore up to Ranipet needs no intro, silky smooth road; From Ranipet, take a right towards Vandavasi towards Tindivanam & all the way to Pondi. Two lane road from Ranipet - Vandavasi - Tindivanam is in good shape; Tindivanam - Pondicherry, the only limit is you

[ampere]

Originally Posted by aargee

Nope! Bangalore up to Ranipet needs no intro, silky smooth road;

He is asking for the route the other way. How to go back to Bangalore from Pondicherry.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by ampere

He is asking for the route the other way. How to go back to Bangalore from Pondicherry.

I would still say the same route, just that adjust the timing; most folks plan to reach Bangalore by evening, but if he plans to reach by atleast late noon, that should avoid 1 Km long waits.

[sairamboko]

I will be driving to Chennai day after tomorrow. Wanted to know if all the tolls accept paytm or credit cards

[hserus]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

I will be driving to Chennai day after tomorrow. Wanted to know if all the tolls accept paytm or credit cards

Credit cards for amounts over 200. And unless you are in a truck there is no toll that will charge you that much.

They will take Fastag - but that is only available about a week after you apply for it. Carry plenty of change.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

I will be driving to Chennai day after tomorrow. Wanted to know if all the tolls accept paytm or credit cards

Last week I drove from Kochi to Bangalore. In a toll plaza in Kerala, I paid the toll amount using my debit card. I think the toll amount was Rs 55 or so.
I suppose debit card will be accepted in all toll plazas between Bangalore and Chennai

[sairamboko]

Thank you guys! Have a shatabdi ticket and cancellation costs 50% ,hence going in shatabdi.

[sbkumar]

I believe all toll booths in this route accept cards these days.

[CAPTAIN REX]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

I will be driving to Chennai day after tomorrow. Wanted to know if all the tolls accept paytm or credit cards

Did the Chennai to Payyanur (north Kerala) during the Christmas holidays last week and noticed that most of the toll booths on the Chennai - Bangalore highways were accepting PayTM.

Since you have decided to travel by train, here is what you are going to save on the tolls , and for those who want to know the present rates.

All below are on a 'one way' trip charges.

Sriperumbudur - Rs 45/-
Chenna Samudram - Rs 45/-
Pallikonda - Rs 75/-
Vaniyambadi - Rs 75/-
Krishnagiri - Rs 60/-
Attibele - Rs 25/-
Nice Road - Rs 90/- for exit onto Mysore road.

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN REX

Did the Chennai to Payyanur (north Kerala) during the Christmas holidays last week and noticed that most of the toll booths on the Chennai - Bangalore highways were accepting PayTM.

Since you have decided to travel by train, here is what you are going to save on the tolls , and for those who want to know the present rates.

All below are on a 'one way' trip charges.

Sriperumbudur - Rs 45/-
Chenna Samudram - Rs 45/-
Pallikonda - Rs 75/-
Vaniyambadi - Rs 75/-
Krishnagiri - Rs 60/-
Attibele - Rs 25/-
Nice Road - Rs 90/- for exit onto Mysore road.

Thank you captain! An emergency has come and I am leaving shortly by car. Thanks for the information!

[sairamboko]

I came back from Chennai, last night. The roads after Chennasamudram toll plaza till Chennai outer remains the same and some patch works are going on. I was able to use debit cards in 3 toll plaza. Going to apply for fast tag soon . Overall ignoring the roads after Chennasamudram toll plaza, the ride was a pleasant one.

[binand]

Did a quick solo run to Chennai on Sunday.

Started from Bangalore later than usual; 7 AM from home and 7:20 AM from the Shell pump at Bellandur. Yet, I was at Besant Nagar beach for an early lunch by 12:15 PM. Yes folks - an end-to-end run that took less than 5 hours. If it wasn't for a jam under the incomplete flyover at Porur it would have been 4.5 hours. I drove via Sriperumbudur-Poonamalle bypass-Porur-Kathipara-Guindy-Madhya Kailas-Tidel Park-Thiruvanmiyur-Besant Nagar (missed the exit to the new bridge at Indira Nagar so had to go through Thiruvanmiyur).

This was a non-stop run except for one bio-break.

Though my work was done within a few hours and I could have returned in the evening, the wife had forced me to book a hotel room which was non-refundable; so I checked in, took a bath and napped. Woke up again at around 12:45 AM, and decided on a whim to start back (so that I could reach Bangalore before the Monday madness starts). Filled fuel at IOCL at Kottivakkam (this one seems to be all-night?) and started. Due to it being night progress was slower than expected, resulting me arriving at Krishnagiri toll booth at 5 AM. Then the misery started - I was caught between dozens of long distance buses coming to Bangalore. A Kallada broke down at Attibele toll booth blocking the entrance to two lanes so the resulting pile-up extended halfway into Hosur city. The straw that broke the camel's back was the pile-up on top of BETL - which I thought is because of all these buses stopping for passengers to alight before the Silk Board flyover. Reached home by 7.15 AM. 6 hours for an overnighter (two tea breaks) sounds quite alright to me though. Lesson learnt: if doing an overnighter then time arrival at Krishnagiri at 4 AM or earlier.

The road between Chennasamudram toll and Chennai is quite bad now; potholes that are 15-20 cm deep are present on both carriageways. One needs to be quite vigilant - not just for oneself, but for others who spot these at the last moment and do dangerous manoeuvres.