India a country which is full of cultures and traditions and even with tourists coming from abroad within India there are a lot of tourists who travel across states be it visiting family or friends or just for a holiday. It is quite common for people to travel on planes and trains for long journeys but not many travel on buses, one of the reasons is because the bus services for long journeys is not available. You get the normal 8-12 hour bus journeys but nothing more than that. In past couple of years private and government bus companies have began services for long journeys which start from Bangalore and go towards Rajasthan which is a stretch of around 2000km. At the moment government run bus KSRTC provides a bus service from Bangalore to Shirdi which is 1,012km. It was after the long journey service by KSRTC many private companies started operating long journeys which would go from Bangalore to Gujarat and Rajasthan. A private bus company by the name of VijayAnand travels also have a long journey bus service which departs from Bangalore and arrives in Jodhpur and the cost for this journey is around Rs2500. How many have you been on a long bus route in India and where was it from and to?
The longest bus journey I ever did was the one from Silchar (in Assam) to Kolkata (in West Bengal). Capital Travels used to operate on this route thrice a week. I did the journey back in 2005, not sure if the service is still operational or not. In terms of distance covered, it is a little over 1300 KM, but when it comes to the duration, I doubt any other bus route can beat that. It was a 36 hour long bus journey as the route passes through some of the most difficult hilly terrains of the North East India. From Silchar it goes via the heart of Meghalaya (Lad Rymbai, Jowai, Shillong) to reach Guwahati (around 10-12 hours). From Guwahati, it runs through Bongaigaon and Alipurduar to Siliguri in West Bengal (around 12-14 hours). The final leg of the journey to Kolkata from Siliguri via Malda and Farakka takes around 12-14 hours.
Whoa, a 2000km bus trip would be crazy - but I guess it's also a cool chance to see the landscape and sights as you're driving past them. I just don't know if I could handle being in a bus for that long. I feel like trains are a lot easier because there tends to be more room to move around, whereas buses are just so much more cramped (at least in my experience!) For the price though it seems to be pretty good value and that's always a consideration for me when I travel too!
Your right when you mention the cost, and while the bus journey does sound like a challenge to endure, the cost will make it seem more bearable I'd imagine. Even so though, 2000 kilometres by bus, especially considering the weather conditions might be hot and humid aswell, probably isn't something that I'd want to do more than once anyway.
Yeah, that's a good point too...being in any sort of confined space when it's hot and humid can be unbearable! If it was something that had A/C and a restroom on board then it would probably be alright - but I also worry about 40 something people all using the one restroom!!
There can't be any comparison between train journey and bus journey. Trains are always more comfortable and cost-efficient, atleast in India. The point, however, is that there are quite a few places in India that doesn't have any train service. Bus is the only mode of public transport in those regions (especially in the North Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram). So it's hardly a matter of choice. You can either opt for a continuous long haul, or break your bus journey in 2-3 legs - which can be far more time consuming.
Yup, I think if a bus trip was my only option that I would just try and do it all in the one go, unless there were particular stops along the way that I wanted to see anyway. On the occasions where I have had to use bus travel in other countries because there weren't other options, that's what I did - just tried to plan out interesting stops along the way to break up the trip. Sometimes though I know that wouldn't be possible, depending on how remote the bus trip is.
If the bus was the only option to cover that amount of distance then while I'd obviously want to stop every so often to stretch my legs and have a break, I also think I'd rather do it all I n one go rather than splitting it up For me there's nothing worse than staying over night somewhere knowing that I'm still nowhere near my original destination, and I'd just rather get there and get it over with.
Yup, and these days I guess we're fortunate with technology - I bring my kindle on most long trips with me, so I have plenty of stuff to read, and of course I bring something so I can listen to music as well! I think between those two things I have stuff to do so the time passes a lot quicker, and a long journey doesn't seem as unbearable knowing that I will at least be a little bit occupied!
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This seems like a really great way to see parts of India. I have taken long buses before on trips, but they were limited in their accommodations. If these services have a high level of quality, they would be perfect for traveling.
There is a direct bus service between Delhi and Munsiyari, distance is only 650 KM but it takes well over 24 hours to get to Munsiyari due to hilly roads after Kathgodam. There is also a direct bus service between Delhi and Kathmandu now which takes a long time. Delhi to Leh direct bus service is also a very long and tiring route.
