[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

Have a 6.20 am flight to catch on Monday morning, traveling with family. Since I have to reach the airport atleast 2 hours before, thinking of leaving at midnight (from JP Nagar)

Are you travelling international?

If it is domestic you need to be in the airport anytime between 5-5:30 am. So a 3:30 am start is good enough as it is probably just an hours drive at that time.

I never take an early morning flight, but friends who do have had good experiences with Uber.

Schedule your time on Uber and you will probably get him to arrive on time. Sorry do not know any taxi operators in JP Nagar.

[ajayclicks]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Are you travelling international?

Traveling to Jammu, and flying Indigo! Plan to do a web-checkin so that it gives me a buffer.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

1. Who is a reliable taxi operator for an airport drop at mid-night

Ultimately it depends on the driver assigned to you. What I do is to book with multiple operators with 15 minute gaps and cancel all but the first one to turn up (I am generally OK with the cancellation charges under such circumstances). Both Meru & Uber allow pre-booking, plus there are several local operators (Carzonrent, Savaari, Celcabs etc.) with various types of vehicles and packages.

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

2. Any shenanigans to be expected- like taxi driver slyly making me buy a 2 way toll ticket.

Just be aware. One thing you can do is to familiarize yourself with the most direct route and not allow the driver to deviate. For the airport at your travel time, it is basically getting to Hebbal via the best route and then taking the Hyderabad highway. Check on Google Maps for traffic updates.

[fast_elegance]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

2 questions:
1. Who is a reliable taxi operator for an airport drop at mid-night
2. Any shenanigans to be expected- like taxi driver slyly making me buy a 2 way toll ticket.

Thanks.

I have found Meru cabs to be the most reliable for airport drops. I have taken multiple early morning flights and never had a problem booking and getting picked between 2 and 3 am.

Uber has become unreliable at this hour wherein driver either cancels, does not showup or starts the trip without you actually boarding it.

I have not traveled after the new road to the airport was inaugurated that does not have tolls. I am also not sure if cabbies take this route. Either ways, you should not be charged anything additional for the tolls apart from what shows up in the app.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

1. Who is a reliable taxi operator for an airport drop at mid-night

My usual order is Ola, Uber, and Meru. I stay in BTM. I always get the 1st option I try. You can check at the same hour a day before to ensure there are cabs around. At that hour 99% of the cabs are waiting for airport drop.

2. Any shenanigans to be expected- like taxi driver slyly making me buy a 2 way toll ticket.

If you select KIAL as the destination, toll is included in the fare. Most drivers are aware of this. You can tell this to the driver, in case he asks. In the worst case (usually when the destination is not selected), pay the toll amount and report to Ola or Uber, if the toll was included in the fare. They will refund.

Originally Posted by fast_elegance

I have not traveled after the new road to the airport was inaugurated that does not have tolls.

The non-toll road works for those traveling from East Bangalore, I mean extreme East like Whitefield of KR Puram. For other areas, the best option is via Hebbal. Also, the non-toll road is a deserted area, with no other soul around in many stretches. You will need a map to take the right roads. It is easy to get lost in the night.

I am also not sure if cabbies take this route.

In my experience, cabbies take the road suggested in their maps. They don't deviate.

[sachinayak]

Best option in my opinion is MegaCabs. Flat 750 bucks to the airport. Used it umpteen times for airport drop and have never had a bad experience.

Usually book on their website. If booking fails, try after a few hours.

They are amongst the 3 official cab providers at the airport.

[ranjitnair77]

Given how tricky Bangalore's traffic can be, is there a recommendation on when I should leave from Hosur if I need to reach the airport by 10pm. Is there a route recommendation as well?

Bangalore made me miss the first flight of my life last week as I didn't account for the insane traffic jams

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

Given how tricky Bangalore's traffic can be, is there a recommendation on when I should leave from Hosur if I need to reach the airport by 10pm. Is there a route recommendation as well?

Bangalore made me miss the first flight of my life last week as I didn't account for the insane traffic jams

0730PM is still good. So you will enter EC around 2000/2015, take elevated Road to Silk board, by 2200 you should easily reach Airport via city route only.

Secondly, if you want to drive through very predictive traffic, from EC take NICE road till PESIT/Link Road exit, do ORR through Nayandalli-Laggere and then reach Peenya, Hit ORR again and reach Hebbal and then Airport.

I take this road from EC to my home near KIAL expressway and I have faced no uncertain traffic here due to absence of such reasons that exists inside city or the ring road through Marathalli.

In fact, you can also rely completely on Googlemaps to reach and It will recommend the fastest and that works. I do that for fun at times and it indeed directs through faster routes due to dynamic traffic changes.

[Rajeevraj]

Not a traffic rant but more of an observation. As folks familiar with the area would know, Sarjapur Road is becoming more commercialized and crowded by the day. Now looks like car and bike dealers realized it is an untapped area. First a reasonably large Yamaha showroom started up near Wipro. Now Maruti has made an entry with a Nexa Showroom on Sarjapur Road a km ahead of Wipro. They also have a True Value showroom further down the road. Once the leader Maruti sets up, only a matter of time before the other biggies make an entry. Good for the buyers, but going to be added headache for those who commute on that road regularly.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Not a traffic rant but more of an observation. As folks familiar with the area would know, Sarjapur Road is becoming more commercialized and crowded by the day. Now looks like car and bike dealers realized it is an untapped area. First a reasonably large Yamaha showroom started up near Wipro. Now Maruti has made an entry with a Nexa Showroom on Sarjapur Road a km ahead of Wipro. They also have a True Value showroom further down the road. Once the leader Maruti sets up, only a matter of time before the other biggies make an entry. Good for the buyers, but going to be added headache for those who commute on that road regularly.

Car showroom is still much less traffic than microbreweries, restaurants, malls and the number of housing complexes. I wouldn't mind having all car showrooms vs a mall / microbrewery. Recently Opus has opened their largest pub on Harlur road. Saturday evenings are a total nightmare to enter or get out of Harlur road thanks to the massive crowd that Opus pulls in from all over city with their concerts.

This road simply has too much housing for the traffic it can handle. On top of that complete lack of infra such as power and water.

Thanks to ideal location from major IT hubs such as Whitefield, E-city and ORR, Sarjapur is becoming very popular but there is nothing being done in terms of infra. The cops are only trying with blocking intersections and resulting in more U-turns. The road widening and sidewalk are desperately needed both on Sarjapur road and Harlur road.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

...Recently Opus has opened their largest pub on Harlur road...
This road simply has too much housing for the traffic it can handle. On top of that complete lack of infra such as power and water.

The area where Opus is located is quite busy. Not just on Saturday evenings, the crowd gets larger from Friday evenings onward. The church, supermarket, Fisherman's Wharf, Maruti ASC and now Opus - all these are within a 100 metre radius. The off-road trail that starts from the Hanuman temple and goes on till the turn off to Silver County road by itself causes traffic blocks.

This road has to be at least as wide as Sarjapura road, for the volume of traffic it takes, but there really is no space to widen this road, because of the apartments on either side.

Thanks to ideal location from major IT hubs such as Whitefield, E-city and ORR, Sarjapur is becoming very popular but there is nothing being done in terms of infra.

Sarjapura can be developed as a township - it's not too late to plan ahead and ensure connectivity and amenities, before it becomes another Whitefield.

[strawhat]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Car showroom is still much less traffic than microbreweries, restaurants, malls and the number of housing complexes. I wouldn't mind having all car showrooms vs a mall / microbrewery. Recently Opus has opened their largest pub on Harlur road. Saturday evenings are a total nightmare to enter or get out of Harlur road thanks to the massive crowd that Opus pulls in from all over city with their concerts.

Originally Posted by silversteed

The area where Opus is located is quite busy. Not just on Saturday evenings, the crowd gets larger from Friday evenings onward. The church, supermarket, Fisherman's Wharf, Maruti ASC and now Opus - all these are within a 100 metre radius. The off-road trail that starts from the Hanuman temple and goes on till the turn off to Silver County road by itself causes traffic blocks.

This road has to be at least as wide as Sarjapura road, for the volume of traffic it takes, but there really is no space to widen this road, because of the apartments on either side.

I stay just off Harlur road - Reliaable Residency. Over the last two years I've seen a lot of commercial activity. At least four major gated communities by the likes of Prestige, Sobha, Ozone etc. already existed. As if that was not enough, a lot of commuters started preferring this road since a couple of years considering the traffic on ORR to/from office. The stretch from Silver County cross roads to Prestige apartments is narrow even for two cars in parallel. Moreover it has seen several new restaurants and supermarkets over the last one year, especially near Indian Oil bunk. To add to the woes, huge lorries also find this the best time to transport materials. During peak hours, the road is unusable. On top of all this, our friendly neighborhood BBMP/water board tries to contribute to the chaos by digging up the road for reasons unknown. All this and now the added nonsense of pubs. What was once a great branch line to reach Sarjapur/E-City is now as insufferable as ORR.

[itwasntme]

Torrential rain near Hebbal and Bellary Road some time back! Really volatile weather I must say.

2 wheelers sheltering under the tiny flyover results in this mess.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The area where Opus is located is quite busy. Not just on Saturday evenings, the crowd gets larger from Friday evenings onward. The church, supermarket

True. Couple of weeks back, on a Saturday evening traffic was so bad that my brother who came to visit me left his car at my apartment and walked to Sarjapur road on way back. He came back in cab in midnight to get his car when traffic had subsided.

Sunday mass time in front of the church there are lots of vendors who cause slow moving traffic. Also, one major culprit is that supermarket at start of the road and its haphazard parked customer cars.

This road has to be at least as wide as Sarjapura road, for the volume of traffic it takes, but there really is no space to widen this road, because of the apartments on either side.

Road widening plan was was approved by BBMP in 2010 for Haralur road. However, I don't think it will see light anytime soon since it requires demolition of few buildings and a temple mast in Haralur village.

Though the apartments have contributed immensely to the mess, most of them are constructed after leaving space for road widening. Also, many of the apartment owners want the road to be widened, so getting land for the same will not be an issue, saying so since I stay in one of the above mentioned apartments.

Originally Posted by strawhat

I stay just off Harlur road - Reliaable Residency. On top of all this, our friendly neighborhood BBMP/water board tries to contribute to the chaos by digging up the road for reasons unknown. All this and now the added nonsense of pubs.

Glad to see someone else who is experiencing this pain.

It took me around 45 minutes today evening to commute from Fishermans Warf to Prestige Ferns, a distance of around 1.7 KM's thanks to a huge jam. Though I am not able to make out the reason, I doubt it is due to BWSSB water pipeline work and related mess.

Few RWA's had raised this issue last month when MLA and corporator came over for their pre-election rounds, they had promised to regulate heavy vehicles during peak hour and repair the roads. However, it's remained just a promise.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Torrential rain near Hebbal and Bellary Road some time back! Really volatile weather I must say.

2 wheelers sheltering under the tiny flyover results in this mess.

Even nearing 2200 Hours, I ended up being part of this crawl after CBI Junction till Esteem Mall.

I made a mistake of 'trying' the city route from EC since I left work at 2030 and assumed things to be normal. It was normal till High Grounds after which crawl till Kaveri and then again a crawl from CBI till Esteem Mall.



I am better off with NICE Road returns from work!