Runaway Cruisers: 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