SUPERFAST TRIP ON THE INTELLLIGENCE

Date: 28-01-2013(Monday)
Trip: kayamkulam - Bangalore
Bus: SRM B9R - KA-01-AB-3341
Boarding: KAYAMKULAM
Departure: 8.10 PM (08:20 PM)
Arrival: 06:30 AM (6:32 AM) SILK BOARD
Seat No: 1
Fare: 1220

 BOOKED MY TICKET ONLINE ON redbus.com.. my favourite seat.. seat no 1 was available and I booked it.

I left home at 5.45 pm.. got UNION travels bus to adoor. Reached adoor at 6.10 and wandered the entire ksrtc stand. No bus was available to kayamkulam. Later walked out of stand and waited for a private bus.. even that was not available.. minutes later.. here comes a ksrtc. it was a venad bus RAC 649 of adoor depot plying punalur – kayamkulam. boarded at 6.20. I reached at 7.15. it was the same bus which I boarded to kayamkulam on my previous SRM trip .I got down and  walked to ananda travels.. reachin there I showed the ticket . he noted down my seat number mentioning it online and gave my ticket back in hand.. he said the bus will reach at 8.10.. had an hour to go.. these were the buses that passed by in that one hour

S.Kallada – yellow . 37**.. 7:21pm

sharma 7.24 ka05ac345 silver

S.kallada  ka01ab5906 red. 7:29

 airawat club class and kpn was not seen in the picture

kasrtc b7r mysore -7.45

kallada g4. 8.11pm

all buses passed .. left was srm and s.kallada (mys banglore)

after a hour wait here comes my bus.. noticed it coming from far and I went in to pick my luggage.. time was 8.20. there was some 6 passengers from kayamkulam.. bus left in two mins .. I was happy seeing the  i-shift in this trip.. movie was already being played. It was run baby run.. ac was set at 23 . bus was neat and well maintained .from the start the bus showed it power.. bus moved a kilometer ahead and there was again a pickup . bus reached haripad at 8.35. both the drivers were keralites.. the bus started to rip from haripad towards allepy.. it was cruising at 100+ . I could see the speedometer as I was sitting behind the driver. reached punnapra for dinner halt at 9. Kallada g4 was ready to depart as we reached… after dinner I checked the bus odo.. it had run 2.03 lakhs.. 

time 9.20pm.. departure after dinner.  Reached allepy at 9.30 cherthala at 9.56 aroor at 10.18.. the bus was fast .. maintaining 80-100 all way till vytilla… finally reached vytilla at 10.30 .. passengers boarded and the occupancy is full now. last stop and no more passengers left.  Left vytilla at 10.32. crossed edapally at 10.38 . aluva at 10.48 . we overtook the kasrtc b7r at angamaly at 11pm. The bus was ripping .. with zig zag overtakes because of the truckies.. reached chalakudi at 11.14pm.. the bus was on 100+ with certain slow downs due to traffic of trucks. He again picked up speed and finally was behind the red kallada at pudukkad which left kayamkulam at 7.30 . no mercy and it was overtaken.. reached thrichur nhai toll at 11.28. ten secs and the toll is cleared . from the toll picked up speed towards thrichur.. again 100+ recorded highest of 120 on speedo .. reached mannuthy at 11.35.. instead goin through kuthiran , the bus took left to tcr town to take the shornur route.. mannuthy to tcr town he was again ripping.. bus was on 102 .

reached thrissur town round at 11.40 .. took the shornur highway . no mercy there too… it was constant 80-90s on that entire stretch wherever possible.. had a  top speed of 102. Overtook another kallada b9r ( 7638)  at 12.08 am.. smooth overtaking.. crossed bharathapuzha bridge and he bus stopped for bio break for some passengers. Kallada crossed us then. Break lasted for 4 mins and we proceeded .. time 12.30 .. we are again behind the same kallada, trailed for few mins and finally said a bye to it J .. minutes later an sps non ac py registered was overtaken in a flash.

Time 12.50 and we reached Palakkad.. all way till Palakkad the bus was in its 90s -100s. reached bypass at 12.52 pm . saw ksrtc garuda runnin to tvm. Way to walayar and I could see some 300 mts ahead was a kallada g4 (5737) busy overtaking trucks .. minutes later everyone was left behind. G4 was overtaken.. Super leading . club class to tvm crossed us.. opposite pair of srm crossed us at 1.10am.finally reached walayar checkpost at 11.12.. saw No.1 , supaa , city travels parked .. bus stopped at the rto .it was for 4 mins.. g4 too reached behind us. meanwhile the famous RNC 724 passed us towards Bangalore .  bus left walayar and in no time even RNC 724 was left behind at 1.20am.  reachd ettimadai pump at 1.33 am.. the g4 behind us passed by without entering the pump.. fueling took ten mins and we left at 1.43 am after gulping in 337 litres of diesel.. 

2^nd driver was on wheels now . I was not sleepy.. first driver and the cleaner went off to sleep .. I went and sat in the cleaner seat for sometime to enjoy the ride  as I was not sleepy then . was chit chatting with the driver.. very friendly.. he is into srm since 4 yrs , native of kollam..earlier he was on yathra kottarakara bus.. he was into driving from age 22 and it was from 1980s.. he used to drive between calicut –mumbai for a mangalore based operator  ..we  crossed L&T first toll and then the bus was flying.. 110-120 on the speedo.. finally took a right towatds tiruppur palladam… the same kallada g4 was again overtaken at palladam at 2.21am. i guess it’s the ktr bus. The bus was ripping at 110+ all way towards salem… overtook tvm sharma which left kayamkulam at 7.24. at 3.45 am.. we are still far behind salem bypass.. seeing me dozing in cleaner seat , the driver woke me and said “ go sleep in ur seat , bus is in high speed .. sudden braking would hurt u “ 3.55 am and we crossed salem bypass . 4.06 am reached first nhai toll after salem.. srm sleeper just left as we reached the toll.. all clear in few seconds and the sleeper too was overtaken..

Then I went off to sleep … later when woke up the bus was stopped for driver change again .. the break was for some 10 mins .. tvm sharma and a kallada b9r passed us then.. bus took rayakottah road to hosur .. back to sleep again.. finally when woke up , bus reached attibele toll at 6.13 am… overtook kpn b9r towards electronic city .. reached electronic city toll at 6.25am. a kid wanted a bio break and the driver stopped for him thou only 10 mins left to reach its final stop.. finally I was dropped at silkboard at 6.32..

All the sadness of my previous srm trip was recovered in this trip :P . it was a srm show with kalladas overtaken 5 times and  a sharma b9r and some AL’s..  I would surely take this bus again. Super cool driving by both the crew.. super fast.. no rash driving , very courteous crew.. very much well on time today..  intelligence showed its power .. super smooth drive ,

Ratings:

Cleanliness: 5/5

Punctuality: 5/5

Staff Behavior: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

pic courtesy: sreerag

VIJIYATHRA - BANGALORE TO PATHANAMTHITTA

                 
           
               

Date: 09-01-2013 (Wednesday)
Trip: Bangalore - Pathanamthitta
Bus: Vijiyathra B9R
Boarding: madiwala
Departure: 8.30 PM (08:50 PM)
Arrival: 08:30 AM (9:45 AM)
Seat No: A1

Fare: 1050

Booking:

As always I book my ticket through dharma travels, this time I made a change.  Booked it directly through viji’s website. Because seat no A1 was available through site. Initially I booked my ticket for 10th. Later I preponed it to 9^th . Got the same seat A1

At the time of boarding:

I reached madiwala at 8.20 pm after finishing my dinner and the hurdles through traffic .. my bus was already waiting  parked outside the pump and many passengers had already boarded. I boarded the bus, placed my luggages, meanwhile a person came to issue boarding pass. I was about to show my ticket and he asked me which seat. I said A1 and he told me to sit. i said I need to go out as my friend is waiting. He smiled and moved ahead to issue passes.

Standing out I had a bit of sightseeing.. shama b9r (white)  and srm nonstop was ready to depart. As both the buses left , G4 ISHIFT was ready . just behind ashoka non ac p.k nonac and p.k isuzu was picking passengers, vrl was boarding passengers at manish travels , next to shama transport office , two kpn Volvos passed by followed by bharathi benz ( ex pta) . sps to adoor arrived at 8.30 G4 ishift departed at 8.35 . went inside the bus . boarding passes were still being issued. Meanwhile I saw blue kallada-national arriving at madiwala from Chennai. Inside the pump a G4 and viji (dark green ) getting ready for Trivandrum ( nagercoil) . golden 9400 came out of pump wit passengers and moved ahead to kalasipalayam. Kaveri travels (hyd/vja) stopped aside our bus and passengers were boarding .

About the bus :

My bus was - KA-01-AB-4694 – the pink version of viji . though travelled in viji 6 times earlier , this bus is new to me .the bus was well maintained and neat.  ac temperature was set to 23 and it was running in medium speed . the odo showed the bus had run almost 1.22L .. the seats of the bus was totally different to what I seen in other 3 viji buses I had been.. it had a brown- cream leather type seating but no leg rest .. the bus had both the default and musical horn fixed in it. Shawls were not placed on the seats , it was distributed when the was about to depart.

My journey :

Finally my bus departed at 8.50 with 37 passengers on board and two drivers , a cleaner and one more person ( maybe from viji office or so ).. the bus crawled through the signals taking right at st.johns .  suresh kallada pink B9R was ahead of us den . all way through st.johns and madiwala police station and finally stopped to pick a passenger just before the elevated flyover . time 9.05 pm . heavy traffic ahead and the bus was literally crawling till the flyover . as it entered flyover , the bus gained speed . it was moving constantly between 80-90 kmph.. reached electronic city toll at 9.15 . just a minute and the toll was cleared. Reaching bommmasandra at 9.23 pm, the bus again stopped at their office for  pickup. Started to play movie .. it was HUSBANDS IN GOA .. Time was 9.32 pm. We reached attibele NHAI toll. Just one vehicle ahead the toll was cleared . crossed ashok Leyland at 9.35. there was road work happening towards hosur and traffic was slow. Reached hosur at 9.40 .again the bus gained its speed , it was in its 90s .

It was 10 pm and the bus entered a pump past hosur . filled in 253 litres of diesel and we departed at 10.07 pm. Ernakulam bound club class was ahead of us . highway work was going and bus was running slow and lot of single lane tracks at many places . at 10.42 we reached next NHAI toll . this toll was very rush and we took 4 minutes to come out . later the bus started to cruise, it was in between 95-105 and we overtook club class . further the speed increased and gps recorded 108  .. traffic again ahead and had to slow down .. the bus again picked up speed . this time it was like shooting a NOS .. 95.. 104… 112.. 118…. 125….. then again reduced to 100 .. NOS is empty :P .. he was driving constantly at 95-100 and the bus had a avg speed of 79 .. most times dipper was used and horning was less . used only when some lorry guys had no interest to give side to the bus . reached next NHAI tol at 11.37 pm .. shama B9R white was present at adjacent gate .. crossed toll at 11.41pm . movie got over at 11.50 . tv was switched off as soon as movie is done.. since I haven’t watched the movie yet . I was doin a multitasking all through the time when movie was running . the bus again reduced speed .. it was on its 80’s.. the drivers must have forgot to take in the viji effect formula .. :P

most times dipper was used .. lorry’s  creating a lot of slowing down . it was like playing zigzags in between the trucks to come out of the crowd . overtook a royal non ac . in between the bus gains speed but again applying brake because of lorries .. braking was smooth , no hard braking.. but when applying brakes ,it was creating a noise . time 1213 and we reached next NHAI toll . It was just before salem. A kallada G4 was exiting the toll when we arrived .. One minute and the toll was cleared . G4 was nowhere seen . coimbatore 152 to go .. overtook the pink kallada B9R .. reached salem bypass at 12.24 am .and salem toll at 12.35am.. saw kpn b9r ans ac sleeper , srm ac sleeper and ksrtc rnc 769 SE at the opposite toll. The bus was running at a normal speed . this time I feel viji was slow compared to other trips. Was going at a constant speed of 80’s 90’s .. the driver used horn at times.. most of it was the default car horn and sometimes air horn when deaf lorry guys refuse to give space . saw a srm b9r speeding up in opposite direction . the windshield had led lighting all around… maybe the cbe- chn Volvo. The opposite pair of viji arrived and both buses stopped . the first driver moved to 2^nd bus. And 2^nd driver was on wheels

finally its time 2.30 and we are 26 kms behind Coimbatore.. a SRM B9R overtook us and the bus was out of sight in sometime .. I started thinking why srm now ? it was not I shift either . did nonstop change route ? cbe B9R is not its time to arrive too.. so many questions in mind . finally our bus reached chavadi checkpost at 3.10 . cleaner just showed the paper and returned ,, the same srm was parked der . we crossed it and reached walayar post at 3.15 . the bus was parked to right . pta G4 was already present there. Srm too arrived and parked behind us,, then I noticed its reg no and it was KL registered . then it struck my mind it was the tvla bus .. 3.20 and srm left.. just behind pta G4 ( yellow) also left..  our bus finally left walayar at 3.40 am . delayed as they had to pay tax. The extra person from Bangalore who came along was to pay the bus tax. Later at wadakkancherry he got down

reached Palakkad at 4 am . there was a luggage drop there and a local passenger pickup,, he was to angamaly ,  we left Palakkad.. took kuthiran route to thrissur ,.. 30 kms behind thrichur and we were trailing the tvla srm and kottayam rajahamsa.. bad roads and heavy rush of lorries on both sides din allow any buses to speed up.. srm found its gap and started overtaking one by one and fled the scene ..srm was out of my coverage area . after lot struggle and finally got a space and we overtook the rajahamsa . later I dozed off .in between when I woke up it was 5.35 am and we were at chalakudi. Saw the 2^nd driver too getting down. As I was in sleep nothing was in mind to think. 6.15 am we reached edapally and stopped behind tvla srm . there was passenger drop. Srm left as when we reached .. further reached vytilla at 6 .22 and srm was ahead of us just stopping to drop passengers.

We took left from vytilla as it takes vaikom –kottayam route . then noticed the driver , he was a 3^rd driver who was on wheels from chalakudi. pta bound sps non ac arrived at vytilla and left. passenger drop and luggage drop , some 5 mins was lost there .. we left vytilla and reached thripunithura at 6.38. three passengers got down here .. reached thalayolaparambu at 7.08 and we overtook sps  . kaduthuruthy at 7.17.. the vytilla kottayam road was like a drunken snake , full of bends and curves .. the 3 rd driver was really fast.. he was speeding up whenever he got the chance. From ettumanoor to kottayam there  was a lot traffic.. traffic was slow moving. Finally reached kottayam at 7 55 am.. changanashery at 8.23 . and thiruvalla at 8.36.

Now the confusion. There was a passenger to adoor and crew had no interest to take take route . bus is already late and its time of their actual arrival at Pathanamthitta.. 45 minutes more through kozhenchery and reaches Pathanamthitta .. but some agent problem finally made this bus to go through chenganoor adoor to Pathanamthitta .  heard the cleaner telling “ when one route gets clicked , then suddenly change of route happens . doesn’t fix to a route . some person keeps doing route plays in between (I dono who the person was ) .. already many buses are sold and if this keeps happening then at last nothing will exist “  … this driver was a real ripper.. he ripped the mc road towards adoor .. he was doin in his 80s and 90s all through the stretch .. reached pandalam at 9.12 and a passenger was dropped at adoor at 9.25 . adoor – pta is again 17 kms and it will be 10 am reaching Pathanamthitta .. finally I got down at kaipatoor at 9.40am, 7 kms before Pathanamthitta as its close to my home.

 overall not happy this time with viji .. the bus was slow this time and the wasted time was not rectified in the long run .  punctuality and speed has let me down ... but i wll sure take the bus next time if they exist :)

of the 11 trips between jan 2012 to jan 2013 , this is my 7th trip on viji and this happened to me first time.

Ratings:
Cleanliness: 5/5
Punctuality: 3.5/5 ( 20 mins late departure and 25 mins at walayar )
Staff Behavior: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

PIC COURTESY : EXTERIOR BY SREERAG