Monday 15 December 2014

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.


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