birthday TRIP ON PAIRING INTELLIGENCE 3340

Date: 03-04-2013
Trip: Bangalore - kayamkulam
Bus: SRM B9R - KA-01-AA-3340
Boarding: madiwala
Departure: 7.00 PM (06.55 PM)
Arrival: 05:30 AM (05.37 AM)
Seat No: 1
Fare: 1200

My trip was planned suddenly and finally booked ticket on redbus , at morning on the day of travel.. got my favourite seat again 1 . that day evening reaching madiwala , saw a lot buses parked at the pump..

A1 adoor non ac , 2 srm Volvos , srm ac sleeper , shama (5343) , sona non ac , 4 G4’S ( PTA , KTR, TVM , KTYM ) and viji (blue) , atlas sharma reached at 6.23 . my bus was not on yet. Few people boarded in left their luggage and came out. This time it was 3340 , the pair bus of which I usually get.  Meanwhile saw an SRS sleeper reaching their office with fully loaded luggages .. time 6.40 . they started the bus. Ac was set to 23 . two drivers . one was a malayali and other a tamilian. A person from friends came in and started checkin tickets .everyone had boarded . occupancy was not full . blankets were not placed on seats . finally the bus departed at 6.55. early than the usual time. 

Movie was playedas soon as taking right towards st.johns. it was 101 weddings . it was the tamil driver  on the steer .reached madiwala police station at 7.06 . crossed silk board flyover and there was a huge traffic block before BETL. Took 10 minutes to enter the BETL  and finally at 7.16 we took the flyover. Over took a sharma atlas over the flyover at 7.22. reached BETL toll at 7.24. bus was on normal speed . a lot traffic snarls after that.. bus stopped for a minute for some luggage pickup . 3 minutes after crossing BETL toll.  Driver started rippin the bus towards hosur , going zigzag between lorries and frequent honkings. Reached attibele NHAI  toll at 7.40. 

Crossed ashok Leyland unit 1 at 7.42 . overtook a thriunelveli UD after that. At hosur the traffic was high.. bus was slow . tool hosur flyover at 7.50 , once the town was crossed , the bus startd speeded up.. driver was maintaining 100  constantly. No hard breakings . stopped for dinner at CCD/MCD at sholagiri at 8.10. 17 minutes of break and departed at 8.27. started distributing shawls post departing from dinner . bus was slow . maintaining normal speed because of lot diversions and single lane and trucks ahead.. once cleared started rip.. again slowed down , and den again paced up..this routine kept happening for the next half an hour. J finally reached next NHAI toll at 8.57. toll is cleared in one minute.. second driver went off to sleep

A kpn Volvo was found broke down on way. Our driver stopped and spoke for two minutes.. and then left . it was a dark pink B9R. finally movie got over at 9.45. tv was switched off then itself.. no idea where the place was. Saw a A2B on the right,, and a toll hardly a km away.. it was 947 and the next toll was cleared. Driving was not rash.. the bus was maintaining 100 constant . dono if its speed locked as there was sticker in the speedometer. Crossed mettur road diversion at 9.56. time 9.58 , 38 kms to salem. 10.04 , 29 kms to salem ..  10.16 , bus reached next NHAI toll . took two mins to clear the toll. Reached trumpet Grade interchange at 10.28 . 10.47 next NHAI toll past salem. Post one hour at 11.30 crossed next toll. 12.28 LNT toll.. was sleeping all way in between the toll crossings. Two SRMS crossed us in opposite direction within 20 mins . one was tvla and other cbe-chn , finally stopped for fuel at madukarai at 12.51. saw two ACC’s one merc and one Volvo back to back racing towards Bangalore . checked the odometer , the bus had run 2.45l kms. Departed after fueling at 1.03 after gulping in 292 litres of diesel. Minutes later stopped at checkpost . garuda crossed us at 108 to Bangalore . 

RAK501 bang – ekm super express was ahead of us near walayar. Had a hard time to overtake it. Reached walayar at 1.20 . kallada B11r crossed then.  1.26 , the pairing 3341 crossed . both drivers waved with a horn. Just 6 minutes gap between the B11R and SRM. Super speed .  passed walayar and in full throttle to walayar,, KSRTC was ahead den. Again hada tough time to overtake it. And finally made it. In between a lot G4’S passed us . two shamas and a bharathi crossed at 1.34, back to back.. bharathi was the slowest . crossed Palakkad stand at 1.45. time 2.55, the bus was parked at mannuthy for driver change. Departed at 3 . reached tcr NHAI  tol at 3.09. took two minutes to clear the toll.. had a gud sleep after that.. when woke the bus reached aroor NHAI toll 4.15. bus was on decent speed past toll. Dippers was continuously used. 4.48 , kavalor , 4.55 near ksrtc stand allepy , stopped at a pump nearby for a luggage drop . 

Driver got a call .Kollam irumbu palam bridge work was goin on . there was block and vehicles were diverted. Driver got the news from the pairing bus and asked about the diversion routes . reached haripad at 5.25 . there was passenger drop. Driver said cleaner to wake up the concerned passengers getting down at haripad. Lights were not switched on. nearing kayamkulam the cleaner came towards me to say the place is arriving.. I stood and waited near driver before 3 kms itself.. saw the NH was fully tarred . the stretch was smooth.. but the driver was not speeding above 80. Finally I was dropped of at kayankulam at 5.37 

 From kayamkulam stand , took RRM 672 of kylm depot plying kylm –punalur  at  5.50 and I got down at adoor  at 6.45 . took MKK to kodumon and finally reached home at 7.15 .

Overall the trip was good . but I feel 3341 has faster and thrilling drivers than 3340 .  ;) 

Ratings :

Cleanliness: 5/5
Punctuality: 5/5
Staff Behavior: 5/5
Overall: 5/5