It was my cousin's wedding reception at Thrissur and we had no tickets left in all the trains towards Kerala! My uncle, without a choice ended up with Shama Sardar Travels and it was not all that pleasant experience. Read on.
So, the booking was for Chennai to Thrissur, viz., and we paid Rs. 1,200 for one way. So Rs. 2,400 per person for Chennai to Thrissur round trip in a AC Sleeper Shama Sardar Travels. Doesn't that sound expensive for a Non- Volvo, Non-Multi axle but a Leyland Luxura coach?
As we booked directly from their office, We missed reading reviews from Redbus.in or ticketgoose.com where people have expressed their dislike towards this travels. The following are the problems we faced.
1. We did not know the seat or berth numbers in both the journeys. But we were lucky to get 18 continuous berth's, like 2 and half bay.
2. The staff in the bus were very very rude.. there was this guy in lungi and his language was obnoxious. They also on boarded a drunk passenger and he created a chaos for 2 hours.
3. The buses were not clean. There was this damp smell everywhere.
4. Above all, Bus did not ARRIVE ON TIME. (You can see this travels marked in RED color for their regular lateness in www.Redbus.in) The onward journey was delayed by 1.15 hrs and the return was delayed by 30 mins. (Yea, we were waiting on the road, to be precise, I was sitting on the pedestrian platform). I experienced this once before during a Bangalore Trip, Bus got delayed by 2 hrs.
5. The running time was more than what they had mentioned. They said it will take 11 hrs to reach Thrissur from Chennai, it actually took 13 hours and 12 hours (while coming back)
Overall, Rs. 2,400 for a round trip in Shama Sardar Travels is not worth the money and time spent. Readers, Please do enough research before you book in Shama Sardar. I would suggest you to plan your journey in advance and book in Train, you'll get a 3rd booking for this price.
Happy travelling!
Note: The bus I traveled was a NL registered Leyland Luxura Coach, ending with 0865 number. The one pictured was also running in the same route during my date of travel.
As we booked directly from their office, We missed reading reviews from Redbus.in or ticketgoose.com where people have expressed their dislike towards this travels. The following are the problems we faced.
1. We did not know the seat or berth numbers in both the journeys. But we were lucky to get 18 continuous berth's, like 2 and half bay.
2. The staff in the bus were very very rude.. there was this guy in lungi and his language was obnoxious. They also on boarded a drunk passenger and he created a chaos for 2 hours.
3. The buses were not clean. There was this damp smell everywhere.
4. Above all, Bus did not ARRIVE ON TIME. (You can see this travels marked in RED color for their regular lateness in www.Redbus.in) The onward journey was delayed by 1.15 hrs and the return was delayed by 30 mins. (Yea, we were waiting on the road, to be precise, I was sitting on the pedestrian platform). I experienced this once before during a Bangalore Trip, Bus got delayed by 2 hrs.
5. The running time was more than what they had mentioned. They said it will take 11 hrs to reach Thrissur from Chennai, it actually took 13 hours and 12 hours (while coming back)
Overall, Rs. 2,400 for a round trip in Shama Sardar Travels is not worth the money and time spent. Readers, Please do enough research before you book in Shama Sardar. I would suggest you to plan your journey in advance and book in Train, you'll get a 3rd booking for this price.
Happy travelling!
Note: The bus I traveled was a NL registered Leyland Luxura Coach, ending with 0865 number. The one pictured was also running in the same route during my date of travel.
