It all started while talking to mom on
phone. I had already booked tickets for a journey to my home town in the mid of
August (after Independence Day). The phone conversation ended up in me
searching for another ticket for the first week of August. Since I was looking
for a Saturday, almost every operator had enough tickets – I had enough choices
this time. I decided to take Kallada G4 this time. A quick calculation revealed
that I would be getting the Yellow bus – I had travelled in their red bus
earlier. Selecting a bus for the return trip was easy – just called up a
contact and he got my return ticket blocked (more on that later).
I was looking at booking the outward ticket
online. Only the last row seats were shown available on the website – I doubt
if anybody would take the last row seat by choice. I checked some other dates,
and found that only 7 seats were normally opened for online booking – that is
the last row, and two other seats somewhere around the middle of the bus. This
was told to some insiders at G4, and they have now opened up more seats. In the
meantime, I called up Friends Travels at Madiwala, and they blocked a seat for
me. However, the call got disconnected in between, and I was not sure if they
blocked the seat. So I headed to their office the next morning on my way to
office – the weary guy sitting at the counter was surprised to see someone
coming to book a ticket at 7.30 in the morning! I had the choice of selecting
my seat – took a window seat around the middle of the bus on the right side.
Days flew past. I headed to Madiwala on
Friday morning to confirm that I would be getting the yellow bus itself – for
some reason, I have a “red jinx” with Kallada, where I end up getting a red bus
every time I book a Kallada bus (either of the Kalladas). I saw the red bus
coming in on Friday morning – so the yellow was confirmed.
August 04, 2012: I took an auto from near
my home at around 20:00hrs. The rate was fixed at Rs. 120 for the 7km journey
to Madiwala. The driver was quite quick, and I was dropped at Friends Petrol Pump at 2020hrs. I still
had an hour and 10 minutes to go for my bus. The petrol pump was now crowded
with buses all around – there was the Trivandrum B9R (Via Nagercoil) of SRM,
Kottarakkara B9R of Viji, a couple of SRM AC Sleepers and Shama B9R to
Pathanamthitta. There was some commotion around the Shama bus – a drunken
passenger created a scene there. He was made to alight and the bus departed. The
pump was chock-a-block with buses coming in by the moment.
Then came the Shama to Trivandrum (via
Nagercoil), followed by Viji to Trivandrum (via Nagercoil), Golden to
Thrikkaripur, Viji to Pathanapuram and some SRM AC sleepers. There was a stead
inflow of KPNs coming in from various places in Tamil Nadu. There was no sign
of my bus even as the clock ticked past 2100hrs. I headed to the Friends office
and took my boarding pass – they confirmed that the bus would come in a while. The
road was now getting busier with all 13.8 metre monsters running through every
moment. My bus (KA-01-AA-7723) came in at 2128hrs. The bus came in to the pump,
and boarding started immediately. The bus had just a couple of passengers when
it came in from Kalasipalya – I really wonder if the bus should waste fuel
going to Kalasipalya to pick up one or two passengers. A pickup vehicle would
be better, or better still make Madiwala the starting point.
 |
| The bus: KA-01-AA-7723. With 2.26Lakh kms on the odo, the bus was really well kept. |
The first impression of getting into the
bus – the bus was very clean inside. Shawls were kept on the seats already.
Some old Hindi songs were being played. The drivers greeted their regular
passengers – this simple gesture makes people loyal to the operator. That warm
feeling when someone recognises you and enquires about you is a good feeling. The
interiors were fresh – no foul smell. AC was running – the temperature set to
ambient temperature. Curtains were all drawn and seats were in upright
position. The bus got full in less than 5 minutes – there were few empty seats
here and there (may be around 2-3 vacant seats). My seat was #32. My
co-passenger was already there.
A guy from Friends travels came in at
around 2140 and issued boarding passes to some passengers, and took a headcount
of the passengers on board. They signalled the driver to start at 2145hrs. The
bus got moving at 2152hrs. There were some cars parked haphazardly on the main
road –that delayed our run slightly. The bus took a U-turn at St. Johns signal
and we headed through Madiwala underpass. The driver took the elevated highway,
and headed quickly towards Hosur. A movie was played (a recent Malayalam flick
– which did not see much success at the box office) soon after the bus got
running. The driver was well behaved on the road – but he honked a lot. The
other driver headed backwards and he slept on the floor.
There was heavy traffic around Attibelle
and all the way to Hosur. There was more traffic after Shoolagiri – including
quite a lot of diversions due to road widening works. The bus had to stop many
times since they only one lane was being allowed at some places. The slow
moving traffic continued all the way to Krishnagiri. The driver broke free
after Krishnagiri – he picked up pace quickly after we crossed Krishnagiri
flyover. The movie continued on till around 0010hrs. Although I was very
sleepy, I remained awake till the time the movie got over. The cleaner did not
bother to switch off the TV after the movie got over – the blue standby display
emitted more light than the night lamps, and it was a royal pain as I struggled
to get some sleep. The bus stopped after a toll gate (I was half asleep - so
did not check which toll gate was that) for a quick break. I took a break as
well – and a small stroll outside. The break was quite short – we started off
in about three minutes (0022 to 0025hrs).
When I got back to my seat, the rear LCD
panel was locked by some passenger (the cleaner and the second driver were fast
asleep). The driver switched off the main switch for the entertainment system.
All I remember was getting back to my seat – the seat ahead of mine was
unoccupied – so I had the freedom of adjusting my seating posture. I slept
uninterrupted until around 0330 – when the bus shook violently as it went
through a rough patch of road. I vaguely remember seeing the bus stopped at
Walayar – it was raining hard outside, and we were stuck in a traffic block. The
bus went inside Palakkad town, and stopped right outside Palakkad bus station
(@0430hrs) – the cleaner switched on all the lights and shouted “Palakkad” – no
passenger got off, but he managed to disturb all the passengers in the bus! I
thought that the bus would go via Ottapalam, given the fact that the bus was
inside Palakkad town. I was proven right!
The driver let the beast free as we entered
one of the best State Highways in Kerala – the Palakkad-Ponnani State Highway.
The road is well paved and well-marked – fairly wide as well. The driver made
the most of the good road. It rained very heavily on the way – and at some
places, I felt that the bus was losing grip. The road has a very slippery
surface and it calls for a lot of caution during rains. The driver made very
frequent halts on the route – for reasons unknown. No passengers were getting
off though. I slept soon after we stabilised on the road – and vaguely remember
seeing the bus crossing Wadakkanchery railway overbridge – we were now on the
Shoranur-Kodungallur state highway. I slept again, till we crossed Viyyur. I
woke up just as the bus approached Thrissur Vadakke (North) bus station. Just
as I got off my seat, all the light in the cabin went on, and the cleaner
shouted out “Thrissur” – disturbing the entire bus again! Around 6-7 passengers
were readying to get off at Thrissur – the driver stopped outside General
Hospital – at 0549hrs. That was a 49 minute delay from the promised dropping
time – but that was understandable, considering the traffic block and the heavy
rain!
Auto drivers, as usual, did not want to
take me to the bus station – all they want is long trips. Their arrogance made
me feel that they would not get any passengers – like a curse, all of them
returned empty handed as my bus left towards Thrissur. Laughing hard myself, I
got into another auto who did not hesitate taking me to the bus station. I
missed my bus to Kodungallur (the driver decided to leave 5 minutes earlier
than scheduled time) narrowly. I got into the next bus and settled down on the
seat near the front door. Just as my bus was backing out to head towards
Kodungallur (at 0610hrs) – the Kottayam bound Airavat Club Class came in – that
bus leaves at 1916 from Bangalore! That bus took almost 11 hours to reach
Thrissur from Bangalore!! My bus had taken 7hours and 57 minutes!
Some points: The bus (KA-01-AA-7723) had
around 2.26lakh kms on the odo as we started from Madiwala. The bus was in
immaculate condition – very good maintenance. There were no abnormal sounds –
no irritating squeaks. The interiors were clean and well maintained. They do
not waste time for refuelling while heading towards Kerala – they fill on the
other way. No unwanted tea breaks – a characteristic of the other Kallada. The
shawls given were too small. The spare driver sleeping on the gangway gave a
very unprofessional look – it is also a major safety concern. The crew did not
care switching off the tv on time. The cleaner also switched on all the lights
and disturbed all the passengers just to alert one passenger! The AC was set to
a very comfortable temperature – the crew get points for that!
Kallada G4 is doing a very good job with
their punctuality and maintenance of their buses. The crew also gave a very
personal welcome to their regular passenger – that is a great idea. But, the
spare crew should be given a place to sleep and they need to change their
overall approach to handling passengers – just wake up the passenger who is
alighting. Why disturb the entire bus? A better reservation system, and a more
personalised touch by the crew will take Kallada G4 to better heights – they are
a very good option for passengers. I liked them both the times I took their bus
– highly recommended if you are looking for a no-nonsense operator.
Ratings:
Cleanliness: 5/5
Punctuality: 4.5/5
Staff Behaviour: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Will I take this service again: Why not?
Getting a ticket in G4 is a big task these days! You guys are doing a great job
– just don’t dilute them!
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