Traveling to Bangalore from Hyderabad!

Today, I am Blue...So here is a post!Is it that important that somebody write on how to travel to Bangalore from Hyderabad? I see ya laughing aloud! But, wait...! Have you ever tried doing this? If you would have, then you would realize that it’s a great adventure in itself. Come the weekend, all the buses will be booked, the whole train will be booked, flights hike their charges, and you are stuck.

I belong to Karnataka, but my family stays in a beautiful hill station Ooty, the Nilgiris, TamilNadu. Both the blood in ME! The Ooty is also known as "Queen Of Hill Stations".

An apt title bestowed! I am currently working as a software engineer in the Hyderabad City.I keep traveling frequently to Ooty, which in itself is a spectacular on which I will write at leisure.

One fine morning, not sure if its good luck or bad luck, you decide to take a trip down to Bangalore. You are in the clouds that you are going to meet your friends, family. You walk down to the KSRTC booking counter one Thursday evening. Walk down, no, not at all. Its in literal sense. Truth is, you need to ride in the hot evening sun, 10 Km, to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Stand to book the tickets with KSRTC. It seems that there are many KSRTC counters across the city where you can do the bookings. But, I have been in the city for past 1.5 years and haven't even stumbled accidentally on at least one of them, let alone even after a planned search. May be they are UNDERGROUND counters hidden from the public. Ok, anyway you were not lucky this time, NO TICKETS. You are told there only 2 early buses by 6.30Am and 8.30AM and none until 4.30Pm and they are filled to the brim. Imagine, there are only sporadic buses connecting two metros! SHOCK of your lifetime!


Ok, you wait until your mind cools down. You reboot and jump-start it and it delivers the next logic. "Go to the nearest APSRTC bus counter". You walk down to the counter, you find a semi-sleeping person relaxing beside the fan blowing cool air. He is startled to find a sweating guy, that’s you, at the counter. You repeate the question to the guy and get the same reply as it was with the people at KSRTC counters. May be they are in hands to prevent your travel. You curse them, their family, down the family tree and move away from the counter.

Ok, then next strategy. Think, think.... You decide to go to the private guys. You ride back and you go to the few private bus pliers. You approach Kesineni travels and they do have a seat, but you are not eligible to buy that. What??? what the f****** thing is it? There is a gender clash, you are told. Gender clash? how??... Does an inanimate object, seat, have a gender? Then they throw some light on it. You are told you would not be able take the seat as the adjacent seat has been taken by a lady and the other seat is waiting for some other lucky lady. You are doomed! There are no more options; the trains would be already full. Your exotic plans come crashing down and you decide to spend a lonely weekend lying down in your room and stare at the ceiling.

That weekend you come up with set of plans that would help you in the future.
So what do you do? Here are few tips:

1. Remember there are only few buses plying to Bangalore. Always, get your travel plans ready by Monday.

2. Tuesday you book the tickets. Be an early bird

3. You may do it online too. You can visit the KSRTC E-ticket site, http://ksrtc.in/. You may also visit APSRTC booking site at http://www.apsrtc.net/. Though the APSRTC buses are not that well maintained as compared to KSRTC, they do serve the purpose. Take a night service. Reaches Bangalore around 8.30AM.

4. You may also take the trains. There are 2 trains plying to Bangalore, as far as I know. One is Yaswantpura express and other one is Kachiguda express. You can do a normal booking online if you plan in advance else if in short notice can opt for tatkal bookings. However, you may have to catch a auto to the kachiguda station. Reaches Bangalore by 7.00 AM.

5. Book tickets online on kesineni travels at http://www.kesinenitravels.com/.
Buses are well maintained and they do have lot of pickup points. However, there is one limitation. You are not the boss in the bus, the driver1 and driver2 is. They dictate terms on what you should do and shouldn't. You listen or face a volley of foul language in Telugu. Telugu, such a beautiful language, getting tarnished in the hands of these semi cracks. You do feel sad! You are kindled to display your prowess in Kannada or Tamil on the same plane, but you don't. It's better to keep the mouth shut. Let it lie, remember only night service is available with Kesineni. The bus takes you to Bangalore at somewhere around 8.30 AM.

6. Else, if you have a sudden plan then you can opt for the Airlines. The charges at the weekend may be around Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3500/-. But, you may be required to take a meter taxi to Shamsabad Airport. The Hyderabad city has got AeroExpress volvo buses that take you to the Airport. The charge currently is Rs. 100/person. However, the buses have very few pickup points. Alternatively, there are number of Radio Taxis that you can hire, but the charge is whooping Rs. 600 to Rs. 700 for a drop to the Airport. Taking it forward, the charge could be even more higher depending on the distance. I personally recommend metered taxis.

7. Don't ever plan your trip during festivities like Ugadi, the charges will be high. Even the government transport departments cash upon these times. The fares are tripled. I know instances where my friends have paid Rs.2400 for a fare of Rs.850 on these days. I suggest taking a flight on these days.

I hope this will help some lonely traveler, if at all it does. I felt like writing and I have written. That's what blogs are meant to be, isn't it?

Happy Journey!