A RASH LESS TRIP ON VIJI PTA-BANGALORE

Date: 25-11-2012 (Sunday)

Trip: Pathanamthitta - Bangalore

Bus: VIJIYATHRA B9R ( KA 01AA 8744 )

Boarding: PATHANAMTHITTA COLLEGE JN,

Departure: 4:30 PM (04:45 PM)

Arrival: 6:15 AM (6:23 AM)

Seat No: E4 (LHS window)

Fare: 1100

                              Being a Sunday, i checked for tickets two weeks back itself.. and almost all seats were filled in redbus .. pathanamthitta/ adoor - bangalore also  the ones plying trivandrum bangalore via kayamkulam.. Finally i came to know regarding SRS extended its route till thiruvalla and finally i booked in it.. Almost 45 seats were vacant in it n i booked seat no 2 in it.. All i had to do is go to thiruvalla which is almost 45 kms from my house.. Few days later i called up walkers, pta ,  asking if tickets are available for 25th , they said it’s there , u need to come n take the ticket.. Then i called up my sis n she booked my ticket,, i got it in vijiyathra.. But still i din cancel my srs ticket as i was not sure if viji would operate.

later on sunday evening ( 18/11 ) , wen back from sabarimala , i saw viji gettinG ready to depart from its parking place ( a petrol pump next to private stand ) , so i had some hope i could travel on viji next sunday.. it was the maroon bus last sunday.. so i started calculating maroon - blue- maroon-blue and finally the next sunday was blue.. As always the same bus which i get.. Coming to this sunday. i reached college junction at 4:10. My boarding pass was already ready,, collected it and started waiting for the bus. Tick tock.. 4:25, 4:30 , 4:35 , 4:40  oh nowhere is the bus... at last 4:45 and i hear the horn , here comes my bus. and i had smile in my face,, because it was the same maroon bus which i saw last sunday .. The opposite pair which i had never been. The bus came to a halt and i boarded.. Finally 4 passengers boarded.. The cleaner went to collect something from office and the bus left at 4:47.. The bus was already cool.. Ac was running in full power.. Old hindi songs were played ,, the cleaner came to check the boarding pass along with a chart and he put  a tick against my seat number.. The same he did to all passengers on board.. The bus took omalloor, prakanam route to join elanthur in pathanamthitta- thiruvalla road.. Reached kozhenchery. Took one round all through the kozhenchery town just to pick one passenger.. The bus proceeded further. Driving was sedate.. He din cross 60's..  Finally reached thiruvalla @5:41pm.. Saw the srs parked on way before the boarding place.. srs starts at 6.30pm.. Finally 8 passengers boarded the bus..

 We left thiruvalla at 5.47pm.. no other buses were present at thiruvalla at that time,, again on mc road , after the thiruvalla bus stand , the bus again stopped for a pickup. The bus then started ripping.. There were no rash overtakes.. Bus was fast.. Recorded 83kmph on my gps along tvla-changanashery road.. Reached changanashery town for pick up at 6:05 pm.. After passengers were boarded, the bus moved ahead.. Reached the parking place where all buses generally stop @6:07.. pathanapuram G4 was already parked there. It was the yellow bus.. The driver entered the stand.. took and round and left.. He din stop for pickup.. To my shock, the bus took left from stand and again went back to changanashery town.. i thought it might be taking some other route to kottayam.. but to my surprise , the bus was plying on alleppy route . took a right at perunna towards alleppy. Slowly the bus started gaining speed. There was a lot incoming traffic, so there was no much overtaking.. The top speed on that stretch was 82kmph.video was put.. it was some comedy show.. Tough to withstand :P

. finally the bus reached shavakottapalam ( alleppy ) at  6:55pm.. the bus was nonstop from alleppy to vytilla.. the bus was cruising at 90's most of the distance.. got a  top spped of 109 kmph.. finally reached vytilla at 7:55pm.. Passengers boarded at vytilla and the bus left at 8.06pm .. Reached edapally at 8.15. One more passenger boarded.. Two more pasengers boarded near the edapally - container terminal crossing. the bus left,, it was in 70s.. Bus reached aluva zam zam travels at 8.32 and left at 8.38.. A G4 bus arrived when we about to leave.. Reached angamaly at 8.54. 3 passengers boarded.. It was quick in a minute and the bus left

Reached richus hotel for dinner at 9pm .  suresh kallada ( yelow), viji sleeper and sona travels b9r was already parked there.. The bus was about to take reverse to park inside the hotel , and suddenly the bus hit a car. just a small dent.. To say just a touch and there started a quarrel between driver and car members. After 5 minutes of quarrel the bus [parked inside for dinner and the drivers went to deal with them. finally the deal was closed for 2000 rupees.. SPS b9r reached behind us.. shama (4732) and viji isuzu passed by... two suresh kalladas.. one red and one white bearing KL45 regn arrived at hotel... finally the bus left the hotel at 9;40pm.. Reached chalakudi at 9.50. The show was over by then and the cleaner switched off both the TV’s then itself..

chalakudi - thrissur stretch was vrooming... the bus topped 117kmph with an average speed of 80kmph...reached thrissur toll and one passenger boarded the bus just after the toll. the bus took thalore , ollur route and went inside thrissur town.. Reached town at 10.25pm.. Passengers boarded the bus. Some 4 to 5. Driver n cleaner was talking with the agent and finally the bus left thrissur at 10.39... new driver entered from thrissur.. But the old driver was on wheels. The bus took shornur route to palakkad... finally i went to sleep.. Dint know what happened in between.. When i woke up the bus just crossed walayar and entered tn.. There was block there due to incoming traffic and vehicles parked on both sides,, there was no space to go.. Finally everything cleared and the bus entered the pump near Coimbatore.. It was 12.58am then.. One G4 was already fueling there, and srm ishift bound to tvm was about to depart after fueling. Minutes later another G4 also arrived at the pump.. Both the G4s left the pump before us.. Third G4  it was i shift i guess, it just passed by without entering.. Finally the bus left the pump at 1.06am..

The bus took the LnT road and finally took a right turn.. Must be through palladam tirupur.. Later i went off to doze... later i woke up around 5.30.. The bus was moving.. Finally saw through the window. The bus was not on krishnagiri highway.. so i confirmed that it would the rayakottah hosur route seeing the road condition.. Finally the bus reached hosur highway at 5.54am.. Reached attibele toll.. Just after the toll, the bus was moving slowly in its 70’s, a red viji overtook us from the left.. Here comes the show... our bus started to rip trailing them.. It was a tough race, with gps showin 124kmph.. Both were ripping the road.. It was like both Ferrari teammates alonso and massa racing on the track leaving all vehicles behind.. Finally our bus overtook it and reached electronic city toll at 6.15. Just as we leavin the toll, other viji reached behind us,, passengers were dropped in electronic city at6.17am and then took the BETL flyover,, finally i was dropped at silk board at 6.23.. The teammate just arrived behind it..

my bus,, pic courtesy: binai

Overall it was a fast journey.. To say a rash less viji journey.. enjoyed the trip overall and would sure take the bus later too. I couldn't take any pics.. attaching pics from binai...

Ratings:

Cleanliness: 5/5

Punctuality: 5/5

Staff Behavior: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

TRIP TO MY HOMETOWN BY KALLADA G4

Date: 16-11-2012 (friday)
Trip: Bangalore - Pathanamthitta
Bus: Kallada G4 B9R - KA-01-AA-7724
Boarding: madiwala
Departure: 9.15 PM (09:30 PM)
Arrival: 07:45 AM (9:55 AM)
Seat No: 42
Fare: 1050

I had booked my ticket for 21st and all of sudden on Wednesday night i had to change my schedule to Friday . tickets weren't available in any of the multi's and at last i called up santhej.. thanks to santhej for arranging me a seat in BLR-PTA G4..

On the day of my travel, i reached madiwala friends office at 8.30 and collected my boarding pass.i hurried up for dinner .. after dinner wen checked , my bus has not reached yet. in meantime I had a lot sightseeing . P.K isuzu , abtx AC , srm non stop , SPS to adoor , G4 shift , kallada ( orange and green) and two viji's ( orange(tvm) n blue ( pta) ) .. blue was parked in the pump and orange opposite to it.. there was one viji and srm i-shift parked inside pump..i guess they were not running that day.. waiting and here comes my bus.. the red G4  which used to run til changanashery before.. the bus reached at 9.05 and then parked to the pump at 9.10 .. took time to reverse the bus and park in because of the ongoing traffic..shama (red) was already parked in and ready to depart..boarded the bus.. it was neat and clean. no foul smells at all.. ac was kept in minimal..they started checking tickets and issuing boarding pass.. noticed that even for today's trip the luggage tag was not given ..

all passengers were on board.. the bus occupancy was full. the bus departed at 9.30.. took right at st.johns and reached madiwala market at 9.39..the bus took the elevated flyover at 9.43..movie was put.. but some problem with the player . the dis was not reading.. it  was left unattended for a while.. the bus was cruising constantly at 85-90 km/h ..reached electronic city at 9.51.. the toll took 2 mins.. the bus moved further and reached attibele NHAI toll at 10.06. there was no much of queue and the bus left the toll in two minutes.. the driving was sedate . the bus continued cruising at the same speed .. in its 90's. reached ashok leyland unit 1. a lot of lorries filled up on the road and the traffic was crawling.. the bus crossed hosur at 10.19. a lot of honking's were there.. the bus hardly reached three digits.. the max what i got in my gps was 105 km/h.. the kallada orange b9r zoomed past us.. crossed McD/ccD at 10.37 and A2B at 10.44.. little further ahead , there was too much of diversions on road because of expansion.. the bus was slow and was trailing behind kallada..the traffic came to a complete stand still at 10.53.. there was some block.. the cd was not working again .they stopped it and TV was switched off den.. it was at 11 pm. ten minutes later the tv was again switched on and the 2nd disc was put to play.. the movie was ustad hotel.. the bus was still on stop.. not moved an inch. at last at 11.15 the traffic started to move.. it was slow because it was just a single lane. the bus was slow for the next 5 mins.. the traffic was cleared and the bus attained speed.

the bus reached 2nd NHAI toll at 11.30 pm. i guess it was near krishnagiri. it was cleared soon.. no delay. the bus was on its 90's and at times it was going 3 digits.. it was sedate driving.. the bus again reached a toll at 12.15..  there was a  2 mins delay there. the movie was running til 12.25 am. the sad part was there were no much viewers.. majority of the passengers were in the snooze world.. the cleaner did a good job this time.. he switched of the tv as soon as the movie was over..  lol.. i guess the shawl i got was used by a lady.. i found a long hair in it..

the driving was sedate all way.. but the driver was honking so much instead of using the lights.. we reached omallur toll at 12.48 am. passed park plaza hotel selam at 12.53 and selam-ernakulam bypass at 1.05 am.. reached perundurai toll at 2.07 am.. the bus took a left after that..it was tiruppur - palladam -cbe route.. reached tiruppur town at 2.35am. then i went into deep sleep.. i din know anything what happened til palakkad.. the lights were switched on and the cleaner shouted palakkad. it was then i woke up.. the time was 4.15 am..i doubt if there were passengers to get down.. if were there, then it may b one or two.. santhej can u pls check up if there were passengers to palakkad that day.. the bus took the shornur route to tcr..reached thrissur at 5.35 .. dropped down passengers.. took 4 mins..the bus took ollur, thalore route.. reached vytilla at 7 am.. the bus was stopped for ten mins.. passengers were dropped.. there were flower boxes in the luggage.. some 10 boxes were taken out.. the sad part was the empty seats of tcr and ekm was being filled up the driver , picking up extra passengers at vytilla to alleppy.. around 7 passengers boarded . the bus left at 7.10.. reached cherthala at 7.45am , shavakotapalam ( allepy ) at 8.13 am.. regular passengers and extra passengers too were dropped at alleppy.. took alleppy - changanashery road.. reached mankomp at 8.37 am.. three passengers got down.. but again 2 extra passengers were boarded in to chngry.. reached changanashery at 8.53..the bus din go inside town.. good work.. thiruvalla at 9.07.. took left towards kzchy-pta road.. saw chn-tvla srm , already parked there in the ground.. finally i was dropped at pta (aban arcade ) at 9.55 am... i had a talk with driver after tvla.. i asked him about the speed . he said the bus was locked at 100.. the driver also said one reason for late departure was the pick up at kalasipalayam.. just to pick 3 passengers , he had to take the bus til there and returning back to madiwala is another hectic work.. it consumes lot time and delays departure from madiwala too ..

this was the bus i traveled.. image courtesy ; www.kallada.com

Ratings:

Cleanliness: 5/5

Punctuality: 4/5

Staff Behavior: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

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