Bangalore to Harappanahalli: Nagashree travels Non-AC Sleeper coach

An examination duty in the rural hinterland of Karnataka. I've heard of this small college located in rural area of Davanagere district multiple times. I got my opportunity to visit this place this time around. I had to spent some time trying to find how to get to this place - KSRTC threw up some options, but none were enticing. I spoke a colleague who hailed from this place, who spoke about this operator called, Nagashree travels among a couple of other operators. Interestingly, none of these were listed on Redbus! I found them on some other websites and booked a ticket on Nagashree (based on online ratings, and timings) through Paytm website.

July 10, 2019:
I did my usual drill of taking the bus to the metro station, and then the metro train to Majestic. I spent some time watching buses in the KSRTC bus station, and then walked out in search of the pick-up point of my bus. The address was a little vague - and there were multiple offices with the same name. I finally walked into one office that looked like their 'main' office - a guy said the bus is already parked 'near' the temple, and asked me to walk that way. I had received an SMS from the operator giving the details of the bus. I started walking down the road towards the temple searching for my bus - there were a couple of other buses owned by Nagashree, but their numbers didn't match with the number I received - but I still checked with the crew of one of the buses, who confirmed my bus was parked at the front end of a long line of buses. I continued walking 'down'.

A few metres down the lane, I found my bus parked on the road side. The attendant of the bus was sitting outside the bus - he confirmed that indeed was my bus, and asked me to wait till somebody from the office arrives with the booking chart. A guy arrived from the office a little past 2300hrs - he checked my name against his chart and let me in. I was in the 'last-but-one' row, on a single lower berth. The bus was about 7 years old - the interior fittings did show age, but the overall maintenance was great. The interiors were clean - the berth had dark coloured bed spread, and a pillow was provided.
The bus, after dropping me in Harapanahalli

Boarding happened as a brisk pace, and we managed to depart at 2318hrs - about three minutes behind schedule. The bus headed straight towards Navrang, from where a few more reserved passengers, along with a few unreserved passengers boarded in - we got moving by 2339hrs. We picked more people from Govardhan (2344hrs) and then rolled into Goreguntepalya (2348hrs) - the bus waited here for some time, with the attendant calling out for people. We got moving by 2352hrs, and took the road below the flyover. We picked more people from Jalahalli Cross (2356hrs) and 8th Mile (2359hrs). I slept soon after the bus passed the toll gate. Worth mentioning was the way the bus was driven - the vehicle was fast, but not rash. The overall style was very sleep friendly.

I had a nice long sleep, which was disturbed only by the attendant calling out for people alighting at Davanagere (around 0415hrs) - I slept well again after that. The bus stopped at Harihar (0444hrs), before turned towards Harapanahalli. The bus got to Harapanahalli by 0533hrs - about 12minutes before its scheduled arrival time - quite a few passengers alighted here. I was in the middle of a very sleepy place - no autos mobbed the passengers. There were a few autos parked nearby, a couple of open tea stalls and a few people sitting outside these stalls. I had a long walk from there to the hotel where my room was booked - into a very clean and comfortable room. I only remember crashing on the bed, and sleeping for another 2 hours!

Remarks: The bus, KA-51-A-8902, was over 7 years old on the day of journey. The bus was maintained really well, and was clean as well. I absolutely loved the way the bus was driven, and was really sleep friendly. The crew were friendly as well. They did take in a lot of unreserved passengers - but they didn't crowd the aisle or cause disturbance to other passengers. Overall an journey that I liked, and wouldn't mind repeating!

Amenities:

Blanket: No
Water: No
Snacks: No
Charging Point: No.
Entertainment: No.

Ratings:
Maintenance: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Driving: 5/5
Crew behaviour: 5/5
Punctuality: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Pros: Great Crew, fairly punctual
Cons: Ageing bus

Will I take this service again?
Will surely try again!

Comments

Arun said…
Harpanahalli (as I learnt to pronounce) is another sleepy little town in the rural side of the state. Actually the town was bigger than I had anticipated, came through this place in oct 2018 during my Badami Bangalore drive. There is this excellent state highway (toll collections hadnt started then) connecting Gadag on the northern side of the town. Remember seeing a prominent pharmacy college before entering the town. In case u had been there, hope u saw those windmills from close quarters. (It was first time for me be under a windmill ever)!!!