[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by netarchie

The bad section can be done under 3 hours.

I am doing this stretch, plan to start at 8:00 P.M. Thursday night,from Navi Mumbai. I will be going further till chennai.

You bet, this is going to be one helluva drive though the night and you'll almost be passing Pune bypass around 9-30/10-00pm and an easy exit through all the towns till Kolhapur without the much irritating two-wheelers and other village traffic. No waiting at the Tollgates, no overtaking from left, Zig-Zagging etc. The Pune - Kolhapur stretch gets disciplined only after 8PM onwards.

Like I mentioned, my recent Pune-Bangalore drives have been through the night and it was a bliss. Of course, It was just me and Dad who travelled and hence decided to stick to the night drive else early morning starts too are the best bet.

Good luck and have a safe and a good Drive!!

[slowdrive007]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

You bet, this is going to be one helluva drive though the night and you'll almost be passing Pune bypass around 9-30/10-00pm and an easy exit through all the towns till Kolhapur without the much irritating two-wheelers and other village traffic. No waiting at the Tollgates, no overtaking from left, Zig-Zagging etc. The Pune - Kolhapur stretch gets disciplined only after 8PM onwards.

Like I mentioned, my recent Pune-Bangalore drives have been through the night and it was a bliss. Of course, It was just me and Dad who travelled and hence decided to stick to the night drive else early morning starts too are the best bet.

Good luck and have a safe and a good Drive!!

Mumbai - Kolhapur stretch is a very cool one for night drives. A month ago, I started at Navi Mumbai (Nerul) at 11:20 PM and was at Kolhapur by 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by netarchie

The bad section can be done under 3 hours.

I am doing this stretch, plan to start at 8:00 P.M. Thursday night,from Navi Mumbai. I will be going further till chennai.

I was thinking of a Friday early morning start, but Thursday night might also work for me, just need to plan for some sleep on Thursday, which might be difficult. I will PM you my number. Can you please text/sms me when you are free?

[Taz-On-The-Road]

Did B'lore-Surat on the 1st of this month and returned on 6th morning. My ride was an Innova G4. Left my home in Frazer Town at around 4PM in the evening and took the Yeshwantpur-Nelamangala route as I thought that there would be a lot of traffic on the Doddballapur-Dobbspet section at that time(Could be wrong in hindsight as I took 1hr 15 mins to cross Nelamangala). The road condition is much better than earlier but has huge humps(Can't call them humps, they are huge!!!) after Peenya junction.
Nelamangala tollgate- Tumkur bypass took a mere 20 mins as the road surface has been relaid. Tumkur bypass is still incomplete and took all of 20 mins to negotiate due to high traffic density. Tumkur-Chitradurga has fantastic 4-lane roads and was able to do this stretch in 1hr 10 mins. Took a 15 min tea break at Chitradurga and was back on the road at 7.30 PM. The worst was about to come!!!
Chitradurga BP is not totally complete but is better than before. Chitradurga-Davangere BP is pretty ok apart from a few unmarked diversions and speedbreakers. Managed to do this 50km stretch in 1hr due to heavy traffic. The real fun starts after Davangere BP. Some stretches here have no road but foot-deep ditches. Had to be extra careful even in an Innova. Also, to compound my woes there was huge traffic on either sides so the progress was painfully slow. Reached Bankapura tollgate by 10.15 PM(All of 1hr45mins!!!).From here to Hubli BP the roads are good and was able to do it in 50 mins. We had to pick a friend up from Hubli and hence dropped in to his place at 11.15 PM, had a hearty dinner and chatted away till we hit the road again at 12.30 AM.
After the 2-lane Hubli-Dharwad bypass road is over, the roads are a dream to drive on with minimal traffic and excellent roadsense among the slow drivers(truckers et al). Cruised through Belgaum(1.20 AM), Kolhapur(2.15 AM), Satara(3.40 AM) and was at Katraj tunnel(Pune) by 4.45 AM. Didn't encounter a single vehicle on my side of the road in Pune(I initially thought that I must have been sleeping on the wheel!!!) and was at the expressway entrance by 5.10 AM. Took a 10 min break to clean the windshield and entered the expressway to find hordes of slow-moving trucks on the right-most lane. So broke my own resolve of following traffic rules and overtook some from the left side. One Einstein managed to block the ghat roads on the expressway and was refusing to budge from the right-most lane. After doing decent speeds on Navi Mumbai roads, was at Thane junction at 6.25 AM sharp. We took a well deserved refreshment break here and by this time my other friends had woken up and were rubbing their eyes in disbelief that we were in Mumbai

The last leg of my journey was the most tiring and painful not due to the road condition but due to the amount of traffic!!! We left Thane junction at 7.20 AM and the drive upto Ghodbunder was uneventful but slow. My worst nightmares came true after Ghodbunder turn-off to NH-8. We were faced with hordes and hordes of vehicles ahead of us. Slow truckers refusing to budge from the right lane, passenger cars wanting to cut you out from the left, deviations due to some work going on and henceforth. The 160+km distance to Vapi was covered in 3hrs 50 mins and we reached McDonalds in Vapi at 11.10 AM. After a burger and a couple of soft drinks it was destination Surat for us with more of the same, slow-moving traffic and diversions galore. We finally managed to reach Surat at 1:00 PM in the afternoon.

To avoid the traffic menace, we left Surat at 1:00 AM in the night and had a relaxed drive upto Thane(3hrs 30 mins) as compared to our journey in the reverse direction(5hrs 30 mins!!!). We had a very relaxed drive back as we indulged in some sight-seeing in Lonavala-Khandala and also took an afternoon nap at a friend's place in Pune. Left Pune at 7:00 PM in the evening and were home at 7:15 AM the next morning with dinner and refreshment breaks included.

[prince_pervez]

^^ What was your ride again ?

[Taz-On-The-Road]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

^^ What was your ride again ?

My ride was an Innova G

[netarchie]

Did this stretch on 14th Jan and returned on 22nd Jan.
As suggested by few members here, decided to travel at night this time.And I must say,NH4 by night is awesome.

There was no traffic/no waiting at toll gates ect. But for few erratic truck drivers, everthing was fine on the road. Traffic is less and one can maintain good speeds.

Slowdrive007 and myself did this journey together in our respective cars till Chitradurga almost, Thanks Slowdrive for the great company.

Started at 8:15 P.M. from Navi Mumbai and could reach Nelamangla, near B’lore bypass at about 10:40 A.M next day. Stop time was around 2 hours , so the actual drive time till outskirts of B’lore (near Nelamangal, B'lore bypass) was about 12 hours and 25 mnts.

From then on I took the B’lore bypass to enter Housr road (NH7) and went further up to kumbakonam.

I saw lot of improvements over my previous trip on the same route in October 2009.Good to see Work is going on quite fast in the bad stretches.

Out of the total 950 odd kms (from Navi Mumbai till Nelamangala toll), the bad stretch is for about 50 -70 odd kms (bad stretch = road dug up/ non tared-concrete roads) and it exists mainly between Haveri-davnagere-chitradurga. And also some between Tumkur and Nelamanagala.

Since I passed the Davanagere, Haveri towns at night/early morning, I could avoid the regular town traffic and no watiting at the railway crossing either.

There was quite some traffic on this stretch as well,I thought it will be deserted. One has to be extra alert because of the sudden diversions which appear randomely.

To give an indication, from bankapur toll gate which I passed at 4:40 A.M. till Kamat upachar @ Tumkur (Sira Dist.) where I reached at 8:15 A.M (I stopped for Fuel and breakfast here), dist covered was 240 Kms in 3 hours 35 mnts.

The tripmeter here read 864 kms, and I had covered the distance from my palce till here exactly in 12 hours with a stop time of around 1 hour in between, roughly at an moving average of about 78 Km/hr.

Similarly,while coming back I could do the same stretch in aound 13 odd hours.
Started from Chennai at 12:00 noon, reached Nelamangala toll at 5:00 P.M. and then reached my place at 6:30 A.M. next day.

Stopped time was for about 1 hours and 30 min in between from Nelamagla to my place.

The time it took to cover the Davangere-Haveri till bankpur was 2:20 mnts
Had to wait on one of the railway crossing for a very little time. And also Haveri town was full of traffic.

Had halted at a petrol pump @10:50 P.M., just after the bankapur toll gate for refueling. From here to my place , I could cover the same in 7:40 mnts with a stop time of 30 odd minutes. Distance covered – 621 kms at an moving avg of 88 kms/hr.
Although I encounted slightly more traffic at certain toll gates after kohlapur. Also
there was a small stretch (about 5 – 7 odd kms) where the road is being relaid somewhere after Nippani, near Kholapur. One has to travel through a narrow service road and rejoin on NH4. Nothing major though. Also the Mum-Pune xpress is quite busy in the early morning.

Also, I noticed that on the B'lore bypass expressway , nearing Hosur, one has to take a detour and travel on an non-existent road to rejoin the expressway again?? This is same on both ways (traveling towards NH7 or Tumkur road)! Is the stretch not completed or some new way of troubling motorists?

So to summarize,roads are great all the way till B'lore (even upto chennai) but for few bad patches in between. Speedbreakers are huge after Tumkur.
This time around I had to worry less about bad roads and speedbreakers as I had taken my Fusion.

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by netarchie

So to summarize,roads are great all the way till B'lore (even upto chennai) but for few bad patches in between. Speedbreakers are huge after Tumkur.

Nice to know, that bad roads are shrinking between chitradurga and haveri. Hope the entire stretch would be done, sooner than later.

[slowdrive007]

Originally Posted by netarchie

Did this stretch on 14th Jan and returned on 22nd Jan.
As suggested by few members here, decided to travel at night this time.And I must say,NH4 by night is awesome.

Slowdrive007 and myself did this journey together in our respective cars till Chitradurga almost, Thanks Slowdrive for the great company.

Started at 8:15 P.M. from Navi Mumbai and could reach Nelamangla, near B’lore bypass at about 10:40 A.M next day. Stop time was around 2 hours , so the actual drive time till outskirts of B’lore (near Nelamangal, B'lore bypass) was about 12 hours and 25 mnts.

natarchie, I thoroughly enjoyed driving alongside you. Infact, the entire drive to Bangalore was very stress free from my side. (I was behind netarchie most of the time).

Also, I noticed that on the B'lore bypass expressway , nearing Hosur, one has to take a detour and travel on an non-existent road to rejoin the expressway again?? This is same on both ways (traveling towards NH7 or Tumkur road)! Is the stretch not completed or some new way of troubling motorists?

This is the incomplete stretch along the bund of gottigere lake, this is near Bannerghata road. Court has cleared this stretch recently, so estimating this to be ready in another 4 - 5 months.

[badris]

Bombay to Bangalore & Tiruvarur

5th Feb, I plan to leave for Bangalore from Bombay. Stop at Bangalore on 6th at my brother's place and then on 7th drive down south to Tiruvarur. I have an Innova and driving alone. Anyone from Mumbai/Pune, willing to join me in this trip. I schedule to leave Bombay around 4 am on 5th Feb and if necessary can leave earlier. Please call me if anyone interested in joining me in this trip.

REgards: badri (+91-9821068898)

[StarVegabond]

Yesterday, i travelled on an personal emergency to Mumbai.
It was a very pleasant experience, be it booking or travel or timing.
Thought of sharing so that it would be of some info to others.

It was decided on Thursday, that i need to travel on a personal emergency. Looked for some low cost airline travel, but it was found that at this short notice, low cost airlines are no longer low cost any more. Train journey would take more than 24 hours. My wife was not in favour of me driving alone to Mumbai. So decided to go for BUS travel.

Thursday evening visited a KSRTC franchisee booking office close home. it was just a 5 minutes work to book the to & fro ticket. I also got 10% discount on return fare, got the choice of seats as well as boarding points. I had not traveled by bus since last over 12 years, so i found that the booking experience has changed way beyond what it was those times.

Reached the Majestic Bus stand by 2:30 PM. Bus arrived on the designated platform no 1, at 2:50 PM. passengers were allowed entry only after inspection of tickets, luggages (to be loaded in luggage box) were being tagged.

Airavat (Volvo) bus was very clean, each seat had a blanket and a water bottle. Soon Conductor came and provided each passenger with a wet tissue. I found that each seat had an A/c vent and a reading light on the top and a power charging socket below the seat. I found all of them working Windows were having curtains and they were very clean and fresh.

Our bus had two drivers and one conductor, all of them were wearing the clean white uniform with shoes. Each one of them carrying their own mobile phones, one among them was carrying a chinese made phone which was lookign like E71. The front two seats were reserved for the second driver and conductor. The conductor carried a ticketing terminal which printed the tickets for the passengers who did not had reservations. The conductor quickly issued tickets for 3-4 such passengers.

Soon the second driver and conductor started shouting "Mumbai, Pune, Belgaum", they were looking for any passenger for the remaining vacat seats. after several minutes of shouting/searching, the bust started moving. Clock showed 3:15 PM. Scheduled time was 3:00 PM.

Bus on the way stopped at Dr. Rajkumar road to pick up 3 more passengers, quickly their bags were tagged, loaded in the luggage box and locked.

Soon we hit the traffic jam after Yesvantpur, It took almost 70 minutes to reach Nelamangala, by the time we reached Tumkur it was 5.45 PM
after crossing Tumkur, the bus stopped for a tea break (15 minutes) at Kamat Upachar at Sira.

Bus went inside the Hiriyur to pick up some luggage, the local person (agent?) loaded the packed/tagged luggage into the box, handed over the money / info sheet to conductor.

Next stop was at Davangere at 8:45, Bus went into the Bus stand, 2-3 passengers got down and 2-3 boarded, some more luggage was loaded into the bus. After issuing the tickets, Bus took the road to Harihar and reached NH4 after after Harihar.

By this time we were shown 2 movies (Kannada movie Jogi, Hindi Movie Krazzy4) and third movie was started (Hindi Movie - No Entry).


Next stop was at Deol Punjabi Hotel a KM after Ranebennur Ghar Dhaba.
Hotel is on the right side of the road while driving to Mumbai. Dinner break was for some 35 minutes (9:50 PM to 10:25 PM.)

After dinner the Video was not started, COnductor closed the drapes and pulled the curtain between the driver's cabin and the front row so that the passengers were not disturbed by the incoming vehicles headlights.

After sumptuos dinner, i quickly into my sleep. I was woken up at 2:10 AM. Bus was near Nippani, soon it entered the town, went to the bus depot, for next 15 minutes, it was re-fueled. Bus again started by 2:25 and i once again went into sleep.

Next I heard some one (=conductor) shouting "Pune - Swargate - Pune - Swargate", i looked at the watch it was 6.01 AM. Half the bus got empty.
1 person boarded the bus. Bus started again by 6:10 AM, driver was effortlessly driving through pune streets - Sarasbaug - Mhatre pool - Karve-Road - Poud Road - Chandni chowk - Pune bypass. one passenger boarded near Mhatre pool and another one at Chandni chowk. COnductor started issuing tickets. This is the exchange between one of the guy and the conductor

Guy : How much for Vashi ?
Conductor : 225 RS
Guy : Subah, Subha 225 RS ?, kuch kam karo
COnductor : it is fixed : RS 225 ?
Guy : 200 karo na ?
Customer: punched keys, printed a ticket, handed over RS 225
Guy : handed over the money, Vashi kitne baja pahuncheja ?
Conductor : Nau baje (9 AM)
Guy : Kyon, teen ghanta lagega ?
Conductor : beechmein 20 minute halt hai, expressway mall

This is a perfect example of how common people try to by pass the system and offer the govt employee money. Conductor was honest guy and the system seems to be transparent. I would compliment the KSRTC on this good governance and the conductor/driver to keep the system that way.

Next stop was at HP fuel station + food court prior to Lonavla.
Stop was for some 25 minutes (7 AM to 7:25 AM). Bus reached Vashi at 8:30 AM. It took about 17.5 hours (3PM to 8:30AM).

The Driver never drove the bus above 80-90 KMPH speed. I could see his speedometer as i was sitting on the second row. Always on the left most lane even when the other lanes were free even on Pune-Mumbai Expressway.

overall it was indeed an Airawat Experience. Airawat is the mythological white elephant which is the vehicle of Devendra (=king of gods). This service from KSRTC seems to be living up to the name.

I lookforward to similar experience on my retrun trip tomorrow afternoon.

[gururaj r]

Nice to know the trip was good. The timing of 17.5hours was also not bad. You have not mentioned the cost of the ticket. I also intend to make a trip to Bangalore from Mumbai.

You have also explained the trip quite nicely.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by gururaj r

Nice to know the trip was good. The timing of 17.5hours was also not bad. You have not mentioned the cost of the ticket. I also intend to make a trip to Bangalore from Mumbai.

You have also explained the trip quite nicely.

Oneway ticket costs RS 1100/- since i booked to & fro ticket, i got 10% discount on return fare. so totally it cost me RS 2090/-

i am told the KSRTC buses start from Mumbai Central and Borivili.
you may visit the KSRTC website to know more on timing, fare etc.

[StarVegabond]

Today returned to Bangalore via Airawat Volvo

Scheduled time was 1.45 PM at Vashi. But bus arrived at 2.55 pm
it appears that bus left Borivili at 1 PM, came via Western exprees highway to SION, where few people were picked up. after myself and another 3-4 people boarded at Vashi, bus picked up one passenger each at Nerul, Belapur, Kharghar.

Bus took a stop at Food mall just after the toll naka (20 minutes), went into Pune (Swargate) - 20 minutes stop (5.45 PM to 6:05 PM), after Khambhatgi Ghat (15 minutes) to pick up some 50+ boxes of strawberries,
30 minutes dinner (8:30 PM to 9:00 PM) just after Satara.

I slept soon, woke up somewhere between Haveri-Davangere due to bad roads. Bus reached Tumkur by 6:25 AM, Nelamangala (7:20 AM).
I got out of of the bus at the outer ring road junction prior to Yesvantpur (8:20 AM), reached (by auto) home Yelahanka (9:10 AM).

My sleep was disturbed several times due to the air blower noise.
I was seated on seat no 14 wich is just below the central air blower.

i would recommend people to choose the seat 1-10 or 22 onwards if they do not like the A/C blower noise.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

i would recommend people to choose the seat 1-10 or 22 onwards if they do not like the A/C blower noise.

Wow, This thread is really serving its purpose ideally for "Bangalore - Mumbai Roadtrip", no matter how one travels!

Adding to StarVegabond's recommendation of opting for those seats to avoid that AC noise, if one wants a royal legroom and still doesn't want to sit on seats 1 & 2, they now have an option to chose 25 & 26 since the very row of seats before these two have been removed to make way for an Emergency exit after that accident which took 5 lives of Infoscions last year.

The leg room is so much that one can imagine sitting on a sofa at home!

I have noticed that this arrangement is mostly on all the 10 trips to Pune, Mumbai, Shiridi from Bangalore and do not exist on Short haul Trips like DVG, Hubli, Belgaum, Mangalore and the sorts.

[prince_pervez]

I had been upto Harihar for some personal work and boy, after Chiradurga I keep wishing I had an SUV. Bad really bad. Whats more ? Between Davangere and Harihar there is a dug up stretch on which only army tanks can move. I was petrified for the under belly of my car. Hope things improve fast. Tumkur - Chitradurga is a breeze as always and on my way back in the night I observed, truckers always oblige to your signals. Good to see that change.