Disasterous Trip of my life- KSRTC Airavat/Club Class, Mangalore-Bangalore

High Expectations awaited on this return leg of my trip- The morning service of KSRTC Airavat to Bangalore from Mangalore. Had specifically booked this trip for the superb driving skills by the Mangalore Depot-2 crew! But Fate had different plans for me on this trip.

The bus was supposed to start at 9 am, but for unknown reasons, the bus started only at 09.50am.
The Actual bus broke down at the depot, and a replacement was sent , which arrived at 09.40am, picked up passengers and departed at 09.50am.

The bus was driven in trademark Mlore-2 Style, and was all perfect, The driver occasionally hitting 95 km/h mark and was trying to cover up for the lost ground.

We stopped for a tea break after Uppinangdi and left. All was perfect till we entered the Charmadi Ghat, where the bus broke down in the exact middle of it,at around 12 noon,leaving all the passengers high and dry. There was no cellular network available at the spot, so the crew had to take a lift and call for help after crossing the ghat.

 Meanwhile, the passengers were being shifted to Airavat/ACC/Rajahamsa services whichever passed by. A Airavat Club class working the 10am schedule from Mlore  and the Rajahamsa that arrived after that made sure  3/4th of the passengers were shifted. We Waited for the next bus, and Voila, KA57F 811, Airavat Club Class aka, auto club class,working Mlore-Blore-Tirupati arrived and we were shifted. All Happy, I boarded the bus and got a Window seat! This was the real Ordeal of my journey which started.The Charging point wasn't working and the TV was Switched off. the bus was driven sedately till the narrow roads ended. He entered the Sakleshpura and Hassan Stands and Filled the bus up with passengers here.

The bus was driven very very slowly, hitting occasional speeds of 70 km/hr., remaining at 65-68 km/hr.This was the heights of driving, and apart from autos, everyone overtook us, sometimes few loaded trucks too overtook us.

Crawling and limping, I reached Bangalore at 07.30pm at Yeshwantpura, Where i decided, KSRTC shall never be my choice for any trip, any destination, no matter what. If this is how they drive and treat their buses, they better buy second hand 12m Buses, Fit AC on them and operate, Coz they aren`t even worthy to keep new 12m Buses if this is how they intend to operate.
God Save KSRTC. You are really a pathetic, disgusting  and a sick third class service provider. Why buy MultiAxles when you intend to drive them like autorickshaws and price them sky high? Shame on you!
Bye Bye.

Mangalore Delights- Sugama Tourists` Volvo MultiAxle Review!

It was a long awaited desire to travel in the simple yet gorgeous looking Sugama Tourists Multi axle Volvo, and it was finally fulfilled a few days back!
Booked the Third last row seats (weekend made sure i was denied front end seats), and eagerly awaited for the D Day!

Friday the 12th, The D Day! 
 Reached Vijaynagar at around 09.15 pm, well before the actual time of pick up at 10.15pm. As I Waited, saw a plethora of Non AC Coaches towards Mangalore, Manipal, Udupi, Kokkarne, Shringeri, etc etc. Finally, We were put on a sleeper coach which dropped us at Navrang Circle office of Sugama around 10.30pm, and the bus was supposed to arrive at 10.45pm.
This was one thing that wasn't worth appreciating, The passengers were made to stand along the service road and sit outside the office, which isn't appreciable. The least that they could do was provide chairs! The "Pick-up" Bus was any passing bus of sugama which could drop us at Navrang. This, again wasn't worth noting,

We Reached Navrang Circle Office at exactly 10.30 pm. the bus was supposed to arrive at 10.45pm, but only arrived at 11.40pm due to unknown reasons. Even the durgamba volvos passed us at around 11.15 pm that day. All said, I Rushed to my seat and made myself comfortable, The bus was neatly kept, had 399,200km on its odometer and was top notch condition in the terms of comfort, However, the upholstery needed a real cleaning to be done though.

As the bus moved out from the city, i slumped into a deep sleep after a long and a tiring day!, and woke up near CR Patna at around 2:06 am when he stopped for a tea break. Quickly hopped off, clicked the beauty, and eagerly waited for the real journey to start. The bus was a real delight, the engine growling at overtakes, the curves were taken beautifully without making anyone uncomfortable, and was handled like a dream,as if the driver and the bus were in complete sync! Full Marks to the crew! In the ghats, the bus pulled away with ease, and the engine was in its best! the growls were so perfect, that i wished the journey was long enough to enjoy the machine and its crew were just awesome behind the wheels.

I again slept off after the ghats and woke up when we were at Hampankatta. Realizing i had to alight, quickly grabbed my stuff and got down at PVS Circle at Sharp 6 am!
It is always a delight when you arrive on dot timing and this drive in particular made sure i never forget the journey ever again! Sugama Tourists, Hats Off to you! I shall look forward to our next meet!
:)

  

One of my best trips, Bangalore-Jodhpur (30 August 2013) On VRL Multi Axle KA25D 1398!

It Was Time for me to head to Jaipur once again, this time for good. Wasting no time, i checked out my schedules and went ahead to book the Bangalore-Jodhpur Service of VRL Travels.

This was my first time trying the UP side of the service (SBC-JDP) as all the two times i`d taken the service from JDP to SBC and all were on 1398 only.

So I was pretty much excited to take the trip. This trip also incidentally had the 3rd combination of the drivers, so I was pretty much waiting forward to. Haseem Patel and Nisar Ahmed Were on Wheel towards Jodhpur this time.

My Boarding Point and Timing were From ARC at 07:30 am. I wanted to take the bus from the workshop itself, but I had to ditch it and take the bus from ARC itself. The Bus arrived at Sharp 07:30 am and sported a new Pilkington Glass from Volvo and a Closed Circuit Camera Assembly.

I Boarded the Bus, and had a nice déjà vu :D The Bus picked up passengers and moved on towards the next boarding point at Rajajinagar.Saying So, the bus finally Exited Bangalore at 08.40 am. I spotted the SRS B11R (KA01 AC 1303) heading out to Abad.

Patel asked me to watch the fun and  I Occupied my regular Seat #0 (Cabin Seat) . :D Patel bhai just rocked, keeping the bus at a very calm speeds of 90 kmph and headed out . We Approached the New VRL Checkpoint Near Tumkur and had a nice, Pleasing Breakfast. This Checkpoint has the VRL Management themselves operating the hotel and the results really showed. The Pricing was just perfect and the dishes were excellent. The Passengers just loved the hotel and wished the management operates the hotels themselves along the route which currently are on contract to different caterers. The Quality factor and VRL are just Synonymous with each other, and it was sparkling all over the place.

Feeling Happy,Contented and Proud, We Left the place towards Hubli. The SRS was nowhere to be seen and it had not passed us till then. Patel Bhai pushed pedal to the metal and was keeping the bus at decent speeds. We Reached Varur , Filled up diesel at our regular Fueling partner pumps and  at Exact 01:10 pm had our Lunch. We then were told that a pick up bus was dispatched to fetch passengers from Hubballi city and were asked to wait. The Delay was a bit too much and the SRS B11R passed us then.

We then decided to play along and watch the SRS go ahead. We were cruising at sedate speeds and watched the crazy things SRS was upto on the narrow stretch between Hubli and Belagavi. The B11R was extremely rash driving, forcing two wheelers off the road,doing zig zags, playing with the truckers and often evoking angry response from the traffic. He was speeding at approximately above 100 km/h and we were just going calmly at 80-90 km/h. We reached Belagavi just behind it, at an delay of just 2 minutes. Here I observed that the SRS crew were not in uniform !  I had a unexpected meeting with Mr Santosh and Mr Nagesh Vannur and a nice lil chat with them here!

We again departed from Belagavi and proceeded towards Kolhapur. The Highway was pretty much superb from here, and it was again doing a constant 104-107 kmph. The bus stopped near  the Maharashtra RTA Checkpoint to pay taxes. We almost lost a hour here due to the slow office work by the officials. Nisar Ahmed took over the controls. I was thinking the bus will lose speed, but I was proved wrong! Nisar Mamu just was awesome this time, keeping the bus at 107 constant, Hitting a accelerated speed of 115  kmph ; Even as the SRS continued its rash driving on the way. It almost hit a Tata Pickup Truck after Kolhapur .

We Soon reached Pune and had dinner. The Dinner stop was around 45 minutes and Patel Bhai again took controls and in no time, we were cruising on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. The Bus had a drop near Thane and it dropped the passenger and headed on towards Ahmadabad . The Bus reached the  Gujrat Border and We again went to pay the taxes at the checkpoint, where the SRS came after we came in. We again lost a hour again as there were a lot of people waiting for the taxes to be paid. The Payment took just 5 minutes against the 40 mins taken by MH RTA ! Gujrat has a complete computerized system against the full manual system by MH.

We Soon stopped at Hotel Ronak and had a hearty breakfast. There were the SRS B11R and a Paulo Multi Axle Sleeper at the Hotel. They Departed approximately 15-20 minutes before us. We Departed towards Ahmadabad after a sedate breakfast .

We Reached Ahmadabad at Exact  09:50 am. The SRS B11R and the Paulo Volvo Sleeper came in 20 minutes after us as they took the longer route towards the city after the Vadodara EWay.

The Real Journey Started from here. Nisar Mamu took the wheels again and it was back to old times. He was again cruising at speeds above 85 km/h and rarely crossed the 95 km/h mark. We stopped for lunch somewhere before the Rajasthan Border. We had a nice lunch and Nisar mamu continued to drive till Abu Road Checkpoint of the Rajasthan RTA.  Again we lost 45 minutes paying taxes as again even Rajasthan was a manual entry state.  

 It was almost a 2 Lane Road after Gujrat as the National Highway work is in full swing after Abu Road. Patel Bhai again took over and was again making up for the lost time. We Reached Sanderao in no time for a very nice tea break where I met the VRL Travels incharge here.  A Very Nice and a dedicated man I can say J

We proceeded towards Pali. The Road was literally hell from here. Stupid trucks cruising at 50kmph, cows & buffaloes all along and some of them even were resting inside the potholes and speed breaker cervices.

The road just got worser as we reached. It had rained heavily in the region and the whole stretch right from sanderao was just hell.We crawled and made our way towards Jodhpur.

We Reached Jodhpur at 9 pm and filled up with 250 litres of diesel, Averaging 3.13 kmpl! 

We Finally Crawled inside the city and I went with another satisfying journey! 1398 You just rock baby!

This time my travel took 36 hours as we were delayed due to payment of taxes at Maharashtra , Gujrat and Rajasthan Checkpoints ( a hour each at an average) and a small communication gap at Hubli.

Updated PicasaWeb Gallery!

Updated Pics of my photos of well... Buses!

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https://picasaweb.google.com/108593860677444417031/October2014?authkey=Gv1sRgCPiVgI-B7_783AE#

VRL Logistics- Newbies on 3718il, Ashok Leyland!

VRL Started Building Truck bodies on the Huge Ashok leyland 3718il Chassis!  

Spotted 15-20 on my way to Hubli, and another 15-20 were ready and waiting/done with registrations. The body building works were in full swing for these and some 10.4m trucks & etc., and VRL is also expected to get 100 AL Boss Trucks. They had one for trial which performed well and thus this order. 

VRL Will Expand their logistics section first before embarking to do the same on their buses division. Lot of AL chassis of different models are expected to arrive soon and oldies are getting replaced.

All The Best VRL Logistics! Wishing You all the very best! 

You Rock!

Bangalore-Ahmedabad-Bangalore On VRL iShift Sleeper, GJ18 AV 3517!

Usually, most of my trips are unplanned and happen all of a sudden. This trip was no different, and after weighing in certain options and stuff the previous night, I decided to go!
GJ18 AV 3517, VRL`s iShift Sleeper was the ride, Piloted by none other than Mr,Shrishail and Mr.Fakirappa, There was no doubt about this trip being boring. 

I huffed and puffed to reach VRL`s Terminal at Anand Rao circle at 8 am. The bus left the terminal at around 8:30 am, and glided towards the highway by 9:15 am. Mr.Shrishail was on the controls, so it was a delight watching him rip the 340HP Monster, from my usual Seat #0 in the cabin! :P
His skills are appreciable, but with the iShift Gbox, he just got better! 
We reached the VRL Tumkur checkpoint at around 10 am and had a fufilling breakfast. Departed at around 10:45 am and glided towards Ranibennur for Lunch Where GJ18AV 3545, another iShift sleeper, Joined us along with two other  SRS Multiaxles. Did a quick photoshoot and we departed towards Hubli. Driver change took place here and i too went to have a quick nap ( saw the movie being played actually! the interiors are so comfy and the individual TV are worth a delight!) :P 

Reached Hubli at Around 2:45 pm. But We had some issues with the engine so quickly ran inside the Varur Workshop to get it rectified. All said and done, we again continued our journey. Entered Belagavi and picked up passengers.Mr Fakirappa was on the wheel, and maintained excellent speeds of around 95-100 km/h all the way along till Kolhapur with a 20 min Break for Paying the monthly taxes for the state of Maharashtra.Such third class roads and I wonder why do they even collect taxes to roll on them!
We Stopped at a place for dinner after Kolhapur , where we were joined by NWKRTC Airavat Club Class Working Belagavi-Nashik and departed at 08:45 pm.

Too Lazy to stay up, i went towards my berth and dozed off! I Had switched the GPS Speed recorder on my phone and slept. Woke up in the morning near Manor for the breakfast and saw a top speed of 126 km/h ! Hats off to the crew, The traffic was a bit on a higher side from here. A 40 minute pile up at Barauch and another 20 minutes near Baroda made the crew a bit restless and were making the most of the time left. all huffing and puffing led us to Ahmedabad at around 11:15 am! 
Not bad taking in all the time wasted at traffic jams and at Hubli, where we had slight issues with the engine.

Return Leg: Ahemdabad-Bangalore, GJ18AV 3517, VRL iShift Sleeper! 

The Bus had just turned 2 years old and had been to to the Gandhinagar RTO For FC renewal and HSRP Plates installation. The Departure was at around 05:20pm, but we had to wait for a few passengers so the bus left Vishala office at around 06:05 pm. 

Since it was evening and stuff, we made our way across the traffic filled roads of Abad, honking and flashing lights! Took the Ring road and made our way to the Expressway to Baroda, The Expressway is a delight, for both the drivers and the people who use it! Such a clean expressway! Mr.Srishail was on wheel and he was at his best as usual, keeping constant speeds of 95-100 km/h and with his trademark overtakes! Watching him drive is a absolute delight, and I was lucky to watch him do that.

Picked up passengers from Baroda and we made our way towards Barauch. Stopped at Hotel Ronak for dinner, where we had a GSRTC Volvo 9400 working Abad-Surat(Not sure of the route) and a SRS Multi axle from Jalore. Both Departed as soon as we pulled in. We left after a while and here was the best point of the journey. Mr,Shrishail was at his most apprecible driving here! Constant 100-110 km/h, the overtakes, the lane changes, all were too excellent to describe beyond the words int he dictionary. Recorded a video while we were on our way towards Surat, and it surely was the best video recorded! 
Reached Surat At around 10:30pm and waited for passengers to board the bus. In the meanwhile, I Ran off to click a few SVLL Scanias which were not registered and were just parked idle, Surprisingly, the DC designed Scania was also resting there. Wasted no time and clicked them all. Departed Surat at around 11:20 pm, and i went to doze,( Kind of a heavy sleeper :P) After the customary switching the GPS on the phone. Woke Up at around 05:26 am at Khopoli Where the bus had its fill. Mr Fakirappa was on controls, and was keeping the vehicle at around 110 km/h, hitting a top speed of 121 km/h. We Stopped for breakfast after Pune, and spotted SRS Scania,a SRS Multi axle and a VRL multiaxle parked for breakfast nearby. Spotted a lot of Volvos rushing in and out of Pune. A Lot of daytime traffic made me go back and occupy my berth and just watch the bus glide on the highway, which included watching movies and sleeping! :P

The bus stopped at Kamat Upachar, Dharwad, for lunch. The Food quality at Kamat Upachars are not so good nowadays, and wished they could stop at some other place other then them. Left Dharwad, Dropped passengers at Hubli-Dharwad Bypass and continued our Journey. Stopped at VRL`s Checkpoint at Chitradurga for tea. VRL has restarted Refilling at their Checkpoints from 30th September, Ensuring Quick Journeys for Passenengers and staying true to their core value of Time being important. They had stopped this because of a notification that made buying diesels costiler for bulk buyers, and the buses were asked to fill up from private IOC outelets.

Traffic All the way, we made our way inside Bangalore at around 8 pm. I got down and bid adieu to the crew at Yeshwantpura and made my way towards home! The Journey was fulfilling, and each and everything on the journey was just excellent. 
Hats off to the Crew for their driving! Coz thats what makes them for who they are! Keep it up guys! Hope to see more of it, Often! :P

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Hello There!

Hello There! 
I`m Akshath, A Avid Bus Fan and a Crazy Travel Nut Who travels hard just for the fun of it! 
Combine a Camera and Other stuff related to Travel, and you do get the math! 

Stay Tuned for my trip reviews, updates on bus fanning and etc!! 


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