Date: 10-02-2013(sunday)
Trip: Udupi - Bangalore
Bus: SEABIRD B9R - KA-51-B-408
Boarding: UDUPI seabird main office
Departure: 9.30 PM (09:51 PM)
Arrival: 05:30 AM (4:50 AM) ANAND RAO CIRCLE
Seat No: R3, R4
Fare: ACTUAL: 550*2 (1100) ; DISCOUNT : 495*2 (990)
Checking out tickets online for multiaxles, there was sugama,
durgamba (b9r n b7r) vrl and seabird operating from udupi to Bangalore. vrl was
out of my list. The rest three was my option. Checking the seating , sugama and
durgamba was almost full.. only the back few rows seats were available.
durgamba b7r had plenty seats but departure was at 10.30. seabird had a two
seat vacant in 2nd row. I was still in dilemma if to try them or
book for seabird. moreover seabird had ticket fare of 550 compared to sugama
and durgamba 650 n 680 and durgamba b7r was charging 590. so I finally decided
to opt seabird. I booked my ticket
online through paytm and applying coupon code received a discount of 110 rs for
two tickets
Day of journey:
After vacating from hotel, me and my friend decided to check
out the boarding point of the bus. after asking a person , we got to know the
place and we reached the place. It was around 8 pm. they said the bus will
arrive only at 9.30. then we moved out to have dinner and wandered around the
place. finally reached back to the boarding point at 9.15pm. he checked my
ticket with their list online and confirmed it. we waited at their office. it
was 9.20 and there was no sign of our bus . bored sitting , we just walked a
few meters to the main road , to check if the bus is coming. Still nothing to
be seen.
Many other buses bound to Bangalore was passing by. most of
them were the sleepers and non ac semi sleepers.. vrl , vishal, durgamba , sri
durgamba , sugama and ksrtc . finally 9.40 and saw my bus coming. It stopped at
ksrtc stand for pick up and moved ahead to the head office. the bus took a
reverse and parked in aside the office finally at 9.43. some cargos were put in
the luggage cabin. one person from the office started checking tickets. showed
my ticket on boarding. he marked a ticket against our seats in the list
and showed us the seat.. bus was neat
and maintained. interiors were good. Smelling fresh . ac was set on 22 degrees
. seats were calf supported
Finally the bus departed at 9.51.. 21 minutes late of
scheduled time. It slowly moved towars upudi exit joining the nh.. then it
showed its true colour.. it was speeding all way to mangalore. 4 laning work is
going on between surathkal and kundapura.. a lot of diversions were there ,
which made the slow down many times. But wherever possible he was on full
throttle.. the bus was on its 90-100.. overtook durgamba nonac on way. reached
padubidri at 10.18pm , the bus was solid fast after that.. a lot honking’s.
dipper use was less . then overtook a vrl sleeper nearing mulky. Reached mulky
at 10.24 for passenger pickup. Vrl crossed us then . again the bus was
overtaken minutes later. Crossed
surathkal at 10.36 , MCF at 10.40 ..
Further ahead we overtook a airawat from left near kottara
before turning right towards city.. It was 2030 cdp-bng service. Reached
kottara for pickup at 1045. Reached ksrtc mangalore for pickup at 1049.. further
at seabird office (kodiabail) at 10.55 pm. Almost 15 passengers boarded there .
departed there at 11.03pm.. an airawat crossed us then.. reached hampankatta at
11.07pm for pickup. Further kankanady for pickup.. der it wasted 7 minutes and
the bus departed at 11.17pm. from there it was a throttle to bc road
..constantly running at 90-100.. reached
bc road at 11.30pm.
Now the shows starts .. only overtakes and overtakes .the
driver showed no mercy to the buses moving ahead .. everyone was thrown behind.
it was 11.35 and we overtook the airawat
which crossed us at kodiabail. The driver was a ghat road expert.. easily he
was cutting turns with the B9R. super speeds. Turning curves through the edges
at good speeds. Further ahead we overtook an srs sleeper .. time 12.02 am..
overtook ksrtc nonac sleeper ,again at 12.04am
another ksrtc sleeper . both were done easily.. further ahead rajesh travels
b7r at 12.07am ( dono from where this bus came ) , followed by anand sleeper , a
vrl sleeper ,then a durgamba and a rajahamsa.. all in just two minutes .. very
quick overtaking .
Time 12.15 , durgamba ac sleeper was overtaken , then a vrl
sleeper at 12.18 , a ksrtc sleeper and an airawat in one shot at 12.24 ,
another durgamba at 12.26 , then a ksrtc
sleeper and rajahamsa and ideal travels at 12.28 , followed by durgamba at
12.30 . then another airawat at 12.31 at gundya ( this is the location where we
take right to kukke from mangalore) . Hassan 77 kms more . another ideal travels was overtaken at 12.34.
followed by a rajahamsa and suguma in a single take at 12.43am. the bus was on proper
ghats and it had a tough time to overtake these two buses because of a lot
curves and no space . bus was cruising well on the ghats too. Around 70-80
kmph. Another ksrtc non ac sleeper at
12.48 , then a rajahamsa at 12.49 and a srs semisleeper at 12.52. everything
was quick ..
Then finally I dozed off . in between the bus had stopped
for a break. Somewhere on Hassan – Bangalore road to a small tea shop . I was so
sleepy that din feel to get up. Break lasted for some 10-15 minutes . the bus
departed after that and again I dozed off .. heard the cleaner shouting
yeswantpur and I woke up.. time was 4.38 . so early.. I was shocked .. finally
we were dropped at anand rao circle at 4.50am .. total journey was 7 hrs
including 25 minutes of stoppages . 5.15 hrs from kankanady to ARC.. super fast
journey.
Ratings:
Cleanliness: 5/5
Punctuality: 5/5 ( i would give a 10 for its super early arrival)
Staff Behavior: 4/5 ( frequent honkings )
Overall: 5/5
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