Hi,
Good Morning. I am Prakash. Even I am from North Karnataka. I had the same miserable experience like you. But what to do? If you complaint to the management of the VRL they won't care since we are from North Karnataka and won't pay any attention at all. If you complain to the consumer court then the VRL management will force you to withdraw the case since they have good amount of political support and you won't be able to defend yourself in the court. They may even bribe the court officials in favour of them. The VRL service to Gulbarga and Bidar are the worst as compared to their other district operations. So, I suggest you not to travel to Gulbarga next time by the VRL bus.

If you prefer the train I would give you a suggestion. Always travel by train itself. It is cheap and ecnomical. Now the tatkal rules are changed and you can book the ticket directly between Bangalore to Gulbarga instead between the source to destination of the train. In this way you get a fair deal by paying less amount as compared to full bus fare even after adding the tatkal charges.

If you really want to travel by bus then I suggest you the best service operator "Pavit Travels" which provides safe, comfortable and time constraint service. Try it out once and reply your experience.

Originally Posted by chetgo

Hi all,

Need your advice on this one.
I keep travelling to Gulbarga ( district in North Karnataka) from Bangalore as my parents live there.

A couple of operators have their buses plying between Bangalore and Gulbarga.

Here are some quick facts about the case that i want to fight. I want to know if my complaint has stuff to stand in a court of law.

Distance : 650 KM

Indian railways sleeper class fare - 258-270 INR ( only if your are organized and book months before your travel date , you can get a confirmed ticket )

Bus Company that i am talking about : Vijayanand Roadlines Limited ( other businesses Vijay Times , Paper mills , Cargo service , Owner is a politician )

Other operators : Pavit , Karnataka SRTC , Pooja Travels , Sri Travels.

Fare (Operator Wise for Sleeper Coach )
Pavit : 700-800 ( 800-1000 during Holiday Season )
VRL : 600-720 ( Upto 1000 during Holiday season )
KSRTC : 550- 650
Sri Travels : 550
Pooja Travels : 550 -650

In the last six months , I chose VRL for my trip back home 5 times ( during Holiday season ) and each time , VRL buses were faulty and could not reach the destination on time. We pay a premium price for the tickets during the holiday season (upto 400% more than the SL railwya fare ) . The basic idea behind taking a private bus is comfort , safety and speed . Each time , I travelled using VRL , the buses had a technical problem and could not continue the trip . Replacement bus took hours to come and reaching the destination was delayed by about 3-6 hrs . ( People take these late night buses becasue the want to be able attend work as early as possible.)

Date of Travel : 21 -08-2009 Bangalore - Gulbarga
KA 25 B4359
Usual Duration : 10-12 Hrs
Time taken for this travel : 18 Hrs
Fare : 735


Date of Travel : 23- 08 -2009
KA 25 B6272
Time taken : 14 Hrs
Fare : 650
Bus had mechanical issues after 200 KM . Replacement bus also had a problem . Journey was not comfortable.

These are just two instances where i faced hardship waiting for the replacement bus to come to the spot where the original bus had had breakdown.

I feel VRL , as a company , is using faulty buses ( with no proper overhaul ) to cater to the holiday rush. This has happened a dozen times now and everybody complains about the fact that we get defficient service inspite of paying a premium for the travel.

Other companies also charge similar fares and are able to reach the destination in time ( 90% of the time )

I hope this thread is not lenghty enough for people to get bored.
Admin , users , please advise .

I went to gulbarga to bangalore.after leaving gulbarga around 10km the bus front glass was broken.we reached bangalore morning at 10o'clock.intsted of 7o'clock...