ExpertDabbler

I opened the coach door, looked outside to get the fresh morning air and checked my watch. It was 5.45 AM. Cheran Express was nearing Pattabiram station. Maybe half an hour to go?

For a typical long distance traveler who is close to his destination, what is the typical thought that strikes?

‘How quickly can I reach my place from the station?’ and ‘How economical would it be?’

People in general have a habit and stick to it. Some take an auto, some prefer the mass public transport options: Bus, sub-urban trains. And if there are multiple stations in a city, there is an additional dilemma on which station to get down.

When coming from Coimbatore or Bangalore, I have two choices to alight, either I can get down at Perambur, or Central.

I tried one method today morning, and this is how it worked:

a) Got down at Perambur (save minimum 20 minutes over the Central option), took 29C (always more than a handful of buses) and bought a 30Rs. ticket. Got down at KMC;
b) Took one of the umpteen buses from KMC to CMBT
c) Took one of the many D70 or M70 from CMBT to Velachery.

My thinking is that the time and cost performance is more reliable in this method.
There are N number of buses in all the switchover points. Employing this method today morning, I managed the distance within an hour. No room for volatility. This does not depend on a single bus route. On the other hand, I can take 29N from Perambur to Velachery but there are constraints:
- Less frequency, one would have to be really lucky..
- The bus takes you through that godforsaken Pondi Bazaar which, unless one is on a city tour, is not a sensible idea.

I also think buying 30Rs. ticket gives one a lot of options. Having purchased early in the day, it might also help in any of my subsequent travel later in the day too.

Where this method won’t work:
- If there are elderly people traveling along
- Luggage. Carrying a container lorry full of stuff will not help.
- Kids.

Other competing ideas would be
- Getting down at Central,
- Take MRTS from Park Station to Velachery.

But there are drawbacks:

- One never knows how long will it take from Perambur to Central. On several occasions I’ve waited for more than thirty minutes near that Loco shed between Basinbridge and Central.
- One has to walk the entire stretch of the train, helpful for walkers though.
- Central is always crowded
- More auto drivers to say NO to.
- There is a sizeable crowd in Park Station MRTS station for getting the MRTS ticket. Another time guzzler.
- Waiting for that ‘once every 20 minutes’ MRTS train.

Maybe there is a better alternative. My point is not about being right/finding out the best. Some experimentation might be required. But thinking along these lines helps you spend time in a useful way and helps new ideas when time is at a premium. It pays to think about such seemingly ‘trivial’ things when one is bored/jobless. These ideas come in handy in a city like Chennai. Some Andhra(Should I say Telangana?) friends of mine had started from Chromepet towards Central in an MTC bus, to catch the evening train to Hyderabad, had repeatedly missed the train in spite of starting 90 minutes in advance. The reason: Taking MTC bus during peak evening hour because they are ‘used’ to, is not a smart idea. They learned this after missing the train repeatedly.

Some other problems to think through:

- Shozhinganallur to Airport (public transport)
- Tidel to Egmore

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 3:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.