Ooty - Mysore by bus travel time?

Hello to all Indiamikers.

I'm travelling to Bangalore from Ooty on the 16th of August (Saturday). I plan to travel by bus from Ooty to Mysore and then catch a train to Bangalore. I would like to know the travel time between Ooty and mysore by bus.

There are 3 trains leaving Mysore that I'm interested in (at the following times)

2.20 pm
3.45 pm
5.00 pm

What time would I have to leave Ooty in time to catch the 2.20 pm train at Mysore?

I did it recently. It took about 7 hours by bus, due to road construction. You would have to leave very early to catch the 2.20 train.

Another point to note is that there are buses every 10-15 min from Mysore to Ooty - And now that the road is good, the journey time should be less as well.

Well, like the curate's egg, parts of it are good. But it is very much still under construction in parts, and can be very slow.

I was referring to the Mysore-Bangalore stretch - I suppose they have completed work on that stretch?

Well, that's irrelevant since OP is doing Mysore to Bangalore by train.

Thanks Jean, I was thinking about 5-6 hours. Maybe then it would only be realistic to catch the 5 pm train at Mysore.

Bigzero, I'm taking the train from Mysore because I felt the traffic might be crazy getting into Bangalore city at night.

Sorry about the confusion - I was referring to bus as an alternate option between Mysore and Bangalore...

I agree on the Ooty-Mysore section- some stretches are good, some are in bad shape .

Jean-Philipe, I assume you must have come via Pykara, Gudalur etc - how is the ghat section there ( the descent from Ooty to Gudalur) ? It was terrible a year back. Almost impossible to drive. Have things improved?

Yes, that's the route the bus takes. Some parts are dreadful. Just before Gudalur was a real bottleneck. Glad I wasn't driving my bike.

Oh ok.

Such a nice & scenic route, to be marred by bad roads, its a shame.

Well, at least they are working to fix it up. Where the construction is finished the road is fine. It'll be a pleasure to drive in another year or so.

Monickom , ooty - Mysore is 4 1/2 hours in bus !

Road Conditions ( Mysore- ooty):- [As on June 1st week,2008].

Mysore - Gundlupet ---> Road Condition is Excellent
Gundlupet - Bandipura [5 kms before Bandipura exactly] --> Pathetic in patches and overall this strech is poor to the core [Around 15 kms I would say]
Bandipura- Mudumalai/ Teppakadu ---> Excellent
Mudumalai/Teppekadu - + 15 kms --> Single road with Pot holes on both ends of the road [ In patches only]and Ok Kind of !
From this point upto ooty --> Excellent road [ bigzero , it's just reverse of what it was a year back] and hence No problem at all now !!

Thanks pmvelu. But now I do not know whose word to take - yours or Jean-Philipe's (refer post #2)

Depends on your mode of travel.

We were travelling on a full-size bus. The route is also done by mini-vans, which are faster because they make fewer stops. There are several which leave Ooty about 9:30am. There are probably earlier departures too. They claim 4 1/2 hours travel time.