Pondicherry to Chennai? Help

Hi,

I have booked volvo bus service from chennai to Pondicherry, however most of the bus service provider have service from Chennai to Pondicherry but dont have pondy to chennai.

1. Can you suggest one? for 1st Jan'08

2. And if you know of a good and reliable taxi provider, please recommend.

3. Another question, where to hire bike in Pondy, can I hire even before leaving just to avoid new yr rush.

Any help will be appreciated. thanks

If there are volvo bus service from Chennai to Pondicherry then there should be return bus service also as the bus has to return to Chennai. May be the return journey can be booked only from Pondicherry.

Other members will have better answers.

Ronak.

They must have an enormous pile of buses in Pondy then!

Or perhaps I've misunderstood something very basic here .

The two cities are very close: an aggressive pro travels car driver will do it in a couple of hours, it takes me three. Any travels company in either city will do either way, no problem.

There's a train as well.

The train station (villupuram or something similar) is some distance away... maybe 30 km or so.

I didn't notice any prominent advertising for the volvo bus back to Chennai, but there will be many... probably starting from the market area in pondicherry a km or so from the seaface/promendade.

Taking a taxi will involve paying him for return to Pondicherry, not advisable.

I would stick to the buses. Even the non volvo ones will be comfortable enough for a short journey.

Hiring a two wheeler is best done once you are there. I presume you are talking about Auroville and its surroundings.. you don't really need one in the city.

Regarding Buses from Pondy to chennai, to be frank there is no need to go for VOLVO as even in normal buses you would feel comfortable as such is the road condition and it's just 3 hours Journey. (50 rs)

From Pondy, there are 2 routes to chennai viz. 1.Tindivanam- Melmaruvathur-Tambaram- Chennai and 2.East Coast Road (Scenic which runs parallel to the sea via Mamallapuram (Anyway bus will go via bypass)-Muttukadu-MGM-VGP-Guindy-Chennai .Both the Roads are Excellent and the ECR route is scenic.

As Capt.said, you could take a bus (30km) to Tindivanam (Villupuram is not advisable as it will increase you travel distance ) and get a train (But as such is not required)but for sure you can reach chennai much much faster than with train.

If you prefer volvo, you could try Rathimeena Travels (5207699,5205099 @Pondicherry) (150rs) Or Parveen Travels (2201919 /2203939 @ Pondicherry) (150rs) & PRTC (Pondy Road Transport Corporation -Government also runs a Volvo from Thirunallar to chennai Via Pondy.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards
Velu

First of all Thanks for your response..This was amazing in 15 mins so many responses..thanks a lot...but problem still exists..

I called Rathi meena, they have dont have any seat available (amazingly so may tockets available for chennai - pondy) , and praveen travels says they dont have Pondy - Chennai.

here is the quote of the discussion with them:

"Nisheeth : Question
Looking for bus from Pondicherry to chennai for 1st Jan'08 :4 tickets
admin : How may I help You?
Nisheeth : hi
Nisheeth : Looking for bus from Pondicherry to chennai for 1st Jan'08 :4 tickets

admin : pondy to chn no service
Nisheeth : why is that so that most bus operators have chennai - pondy but no return?
Nisheeth : so how do people return?
Nisheeth : u there
admin : only government bus"

Raj National express has return but sold out..there are so may going to chennai but no return booking..i checked on realindia.in & redbus.in they all are booking for chennai - Pondy but not for pondy - chennai..couldnt find a logic

maybe the buses go on beyond Pondicherry and return to Chennai direct from wherever.

Other buses will be good enough.

I am confused about the train thing: Pondicherry has a station. do trains not go from there to Chennai?



I'm asking this question with a railway timetable on the shelf behind me! Train No 104 apparently leaves Pondy at 14:40 and arrives Chennai Egmore at 19:30.

I stand to be corrected on this, as the timetable is confusing: but it looks as if there is a train, but that it is probably the slowest possible method!

Hmmmm...

In fact, the response what you got is in fact correct as all the omni operators run their services upto Velankanni / Nagore (300 km + from chennai) etc & hence "TO" is possible (As they charge you 70% of Velankanni Fare for half the distance(Read Pondy) you travel and for "Return" in fact you will be asked to wait in their office and when every bus turns up, the clerk will check and if at all vacancy is there then you will be given the ticket.

I am not sure when you are reaching pondy, But once you reach pondy, just go directly to the bus stand and you can book "Government bus" to chennai .. You won't believe the frequency is almost 10 minutes once from 7 - 10 am and 2 - 6 pm.

Captain, I think you must be right. There probably wouldn't be a point in a luxury bus for such a short journey, but still a bit odd that they don't return by the same route

=crossposted with pmvelu and Nick =

I am almost sure the train station is quite some distance from the city.


PMvelu in post 5 above, who seems to know more than me, concurs (though I got the train station wrong, as usual)

You are right Nick , BUT the problem is the frequency . There is one daily train Direct to chennai & I suppose 1 another weekly train runs between Pondy to Bhubaneshwar Via Chennai BUT you could reach much much faster in Bus.

Since Pondy was French territory it was not connected to the initial railyway-system built by the British. Only recently the narrow gauge rail-lines to Villupuram were changed into standard-gauge. There are now one or two direct trains from Pondy to Chennai, besides the one to Bhubaneshwar once a week. Trains, even from Villupuram used to take something like six hours to go to Chennai, so that either bus or taxi were the only option.

There is a Volvo bus service from Pondy to Chennai, but I do not know exactly from where it starts. It is as Capt. says, near Promenade... I'll find out next February when I am there. (too late for you, sorry )

The Railway-station is at the southern side of Anna-Salai, the road that encircles old Pondy. At the end of Mission Street, and when you follow the road up from Park Guesthouse.

Kandisa, if you have no other option and can afford a taxi,
order one from

Sri Aurobindo Autocare Services
507, M.G. Road, Muthialpet
Pondicherry - 605 003
India. ISD Code 0091
Telefax: (0413) 2220957
Telephone: (0413) 2220612

They have the lowest fare in town and the best service, with Ambassadors.


It costs 1400 Rupees to drop you in Chennai (return fare included of course). Sorry Captain, you were ripped off when you paid 3000 with the excuse that you had to pay for return fare, as you mentioned once earlier.

Nope. Actually I took the taxi in Chennai, it stayed with us for two days and brought us back to Chennai. Tolls included.

Chennai is more expensive than Delhi, but maybe by 25% or so.

Nobody rips off the Captain !

But I recall doing a day-trip return visit in 2004 for less than 2,000. I think that the past three years of inflation and fuel-price rises will have made a marked difference.

Yes, the railway station is pretty close in to the city. We passed it on out way from our hotel to the Botanical Gardens. But it looks like no-one would take that train anyway.