Plan was to go to Hyd for the weekend (today & tomorrow). About 2 weeks ago, booked an APSRTC bus ticket for 10pm yesterday Blr -> Hyd. No train tickets were available for onward journey. But were available for return, so booked the return by train.
I'd read in the news about a week ago that some buses & trains were stopped/cancelled, thanks to the lunatic Telangana agitators. But a few days later, it seemed the buses started plying again. So almost forgot about this news tidbit. Went to the Majestic bus stand assuming that the bus wasn't cancelled.
Reached well ahead of time, probably around 9.15pm. Walked around, scanned almost all the buses there. It was impossible to scan every bus given how tumultuous & disorderly the bus stand is.
And then it started raining. Heavily. Due to the downpour, couldn't hear the loudest honking of even the buses that were just a few meters away. It lasted for about 2hrs.
Walking in that rain, even with an umbrella, was quite challenging. The umbrella was leaking from the inside because of the rain when I tried a little adventure to see the Service number of the bus that was approaching the platform where my bus is supposed to come. Got half drenched from feet to waist in the process. Gave up further attempts.
Asked around, since it was past 10pm already & the bus was nowhere to be seen. Asked 3 people who seemed to be the people who track buses coming in/out of the bus stand. They got to be the best people to get an answer, I thought. Got 3 different answers from each of them.
One said the bus is there somewhere behind, wait a while longer & it'll come. Second person said it probably is cancelled, but he wasn't sure & couldn't give me directions on how I could confirm. Third one said there aren't any buses to Hyd at all.
The third one was obviously wrong. There were buses to Hyd. Was he blind? Seemed like he was managing Tirupati/Nellore going buses only. From his perspective, there aren't any buses to Hyd.
Asked the first person about an hour later & he said he didn't know about it anymore. He had faked earlier!
The second person didn't change the answer. But asked me to confirm with the booking office. Although the office seemed open, i.e., there were people in, no one was interested in helping.
Afterthought: Later the next day I realized I'd gone to the wrong office, the directions weren't that accurate. I shouldn't have had that high expectations from those guys. Should've figured it out myself by just waddling in the rain, through all those dirty puddles of rain water.
Anyways, back to yesterday 11.45pm, thought I'll get outside help & called up sis at almost midnight. Felt sorry for doing it, but thought it was necessary, otherwise I would've got stuck for much longer.
Also called up APSRTC support - he suggested I ask around in the bus stop itself, or go to the booking office. C'mon, if those were of any help, why would I even think of calling these guys?!
After almost an hour of fiddling, realized it was quite late. Even if the bus wasn't cancelled I've missed it already. There were no Hyd-going buses in the bus stand anymore. Gave up. It was about 12.15
Took an auto, costed Rs.200, which would've been about Rs.15 by bus, or about Rs.100 at a normal time by auto itself. Reached home around 1.15am.
Found out from apsrtconline.in that the bus was cancelled yesterday itself! Wasn't I supposed to be informed?! They had my mobile number! Why doesn't the APSRTC support (08019999999) know this info?! All they needed to do was look at that stupid page & let me know if the service number is in the cancelled list.
Cancelled the train ticket today, loss of Rs.60. Also got a complete refund for the bus ticket since the bus was cancelled. But had to write some long letter, chase some high officials to get the paperwork done. Finally got it done.
On the way back home, got completely drenched. So much for getting a refund. And the petrol cost, time wasted. Overall, a loss of over Rs.300. More than 8 hrs wasted too.
I admit a mistake my end too - should've checked bus running info before even beginning, but can't keep ranting about it anymore.
Will just have to give it a pass as a good learning. Hoping there won't be a next time like this again.
I'd read in the news about a week ago that some buses & trains were stopped/cancelled, thanks to the lunatic Telangana agitators. But a few days later, it seemed the buses started plying again. So almost forgot about this news tidbit. Went to the Majestic bus stand assuming that the bus wasn't cancelled.
Reached well ahead of time, probably around 9.15pm. Walked around, scanned almost all the buses there. It was impossible to scan every bus given how tumultuous & disorderly the bus stand is.
And then it started raining. Heavily. Due to the downpour, couldn't hear the loudest honking of even the buses that were just a few meters away. It lasted for about 2hrs.
Walking in that rain, even with an umbrella, was quite challenging. The umbrella was leaking from the inside because of the rain when I tried a little adventure to see the Service number of the bus that was approaching the platform where my bus is supposed to come. Got half drenched from feet to waist in the process. Gave up further attempts.
Asked around, since it was past 10pm already & the bus was nowhere to be seen. Asked 3 people who seemed to be the people who track buses coming in/out of the bus stand. They got to be the best people to get an answer, I thought. Got 3 different answers from each of them.
One said the bus is there somewhere behind, wait a while longer & it'll come. Second person said it probably is cancelled, but he wasn't sure & couldn't give me directions on how I could confirm. Third one said there aren't any buses to Hyd at all.
The third one was obviously wrong. There were buses to Hyd. Was he blind? Seemed like he was managing Tirupati/Nellore going buses only. From his perspective, there aren't any buses to Hyd.
Asked the first person about an hour later & he said he didn't know about it anymore. He had faked earlier!
The second person didn't change the answer. But asked me to confirm with the booking office. Although the office seemed open, i.e., there were people in, no one was interested in helping.
Afterthought: Later the next day I realized I'd gone to the wrong office, the directions weren't that accurate. I shouldn't have had that high expectations from those guys. Should've figured it out myself by just waddling in the rain, through all those dirty puddles of rain water.
Anyways, back to yesterday 11.45pm, thought I'll get outside help & called up sis at almost midnight. Felt sorry for doing it, but thought it was necessary, otherwise I would've got stuck for much longer.
Also called up APSRTC support - he suggested I ask around in the bus stop itself, or go to the booking office. C'mon, if those were of any help, why would I even think of calling these guys?!
After almost an hour of fiddling, realized it was quite late. Even if the bus wasn't cancelled I've missed it already. There were no Hyd-going buses in the bus stand anymore. Gave up. It was about 12.15
Took an auto, costed Rs.200, which would've been about Rs.15 by bus, or about Rs.100 at a normal time by auto itself. Reached home around 1.15am.
Found out from apsrtconline.in that the bus was cancelled yesterday itself! Wasn't I supposed to be informed?! They had my mobile number! Why doesn't the APSRTC support (08019999999) know this info?! All they needed to do was look at that stupid page & let me know if the service number is in the cancelled list.
Cancelled the train ticket today, loss of Rs.60. Also got a complete refund for the bus ticket since the bus was cancelled. But had to write some long letter, chase some high officials to get the paperwork done. Finally got it done.
On the way back home, got completely drenched. So much for getting a refund. And the petrol cost, time wasted. Overall, a loss of over Rs.300. More than 8 hrs wasted too.
I admit a mistake my end too - should've checked bus running info before even beginning, but can't keep ranting about it anymore.
Will just have to give it a pass as a good learning. Hoping there won't be a next time like this again.
