It became a rule that it was troublesome to use company cars to go to the city center of Bangalore, so
I had the company car take me to a mall on Mysore Road, and from there, I headed to Savandurga.
I was with a colleague who was newly assigned, and we were looking up bus numbers,
but the bus number we were originally looking for didn't come for a long time!
Several buses came with the same number, but with slightly different letters at the end.
After about an hour of waiting, and still no bus, we finally used Uber to call a taxi.
You can see the estimated fare on your smartphone, which was 500-900 Rs (800-1700 yen).
I thought that was cheap considering it was almost 40km,
but as soon as the car started moving, the driver said, "I can't go there because it's outside the city. Please pay 2,500 Rs in cash," so I immediately told him to stop and got out of the car.
A feature of Uber is that you pay the driver in cash, but you can pay online with a credit card. However, even though I didn't ride for even a minute and the transaction was canceled, I received an email with a bill. What is this? I immediately rated the driver as "1 (worst)" and wrote "blah blah, something like this happened," and I immediately received an email from support saying, "We will refund you." Their support is quite quick.
It seems like Uber can't go there, so I searched for and installed an app called mGaadi that allows you to call an auto-rickshaw with your smartphone, and tried it again. The estimated fare was 500-800 Rs, so I thought, "Maybe it will work," but first, I received a phone call from support to confirm the destination, and then I received another phone call saying, "I can't go there because it's outside the city." Hmm. Well, that's a more reasonable response than Uber.
So, I had no choice but to wait for the bus I wanted for hours.
I left home at 6 am, and arrived in this area at 7 am. If I had been calling Ubers or trying auto-rickshaws, it would have been 10 am.
I decided to try Uber again. No matter how many times I tried, the estimated fare to my destination appeared correctly on my smartphone, and there was no information saying it couldn't go there.
So, the driver from before might have been saying it arbitrarily to try to overcharge, so I decided to try calling again. This time, I specified the destination properly before calling the driver, since I couldn't enter the destination due to a poor network connection before.
And about 30 minutes later, a different driver came, and this time, I asked him, "Can you go there?" He said, "I can't go there because it's outside the city." Hmm. I thought, "If you can't go, don't show the estimated fare on the app in the first place." Uber, what is this?
The driver also said, "I'll take you there and back for 3,000 Rs (about 5800 yen)," so I declined.
I declined, and yet, I received an email with a bill for the distance the car traveled to my location, even though I didn't get in the car at all. What is this? The previous driver was also charging me arbitrarily, and now I'm receiving a bill for something I didn't even use. They should clearly state the rules if they're going to charge.
Furthermore, Uber can monitor the route the car takes to reach the destination, and I was watching, but it seems they're charging me for the 30 minutes it took to travel all that way. I understand the logic, but what are the actual rules? I originally used the app to specify the destination and request a ride, but they're saying "we can't go there"? What kind of service is Uber? I can kind of understand why they're constantly in the news and having problems with this kind of arbitrary operation.
Gradually, the time passed, and it was almost 12 o'clock. I was wasting 5 hours in this area. During that time, my companion was using their smartphone to check bus routes, and we found out that if the numbers were the same, they would go to roughly the same area. So, we decided to get on any bus with the same number, and we started moving little by little.
Buses with the same number come by frequently. If we got on the first one that came, it cost about 19 rupees and we traveled about 10 km (1/3 of the total distance). And then, we were dropped off in the middle of a rural town... It seems like this is the end of the line. We walked about 1 km to the main road and got on the next bus. Again, it didn't go to our destination, and we ended up in another strange rural town. This time, it was too far to walk, so the bus seemed to be turning around, and we continued on, returning to a small village.
It was 1 o'clock, so we ate at a restaurant in that town. Surprisingly, we were able to find a decent meal (although that might be an overstatement...). We ate masala dosa, and since taking the bus further would take a lot more time, we decided to take an auto-rickshaw for the last 15 km. It was already past 1 o'clock, so if we were any later, we wouldn't have time to climb.
It cost 350 Rs for one person, which seems a bit expensive, but if the standard price in the town is 13 Rs per km, then 200 Rs would be reasonable for a one-way trip, and since this driver probably has to return to the village, the round trip fare seems reasonable.
The view from the top of the hill along the way is wonderful.
And finally, we arrived around 2 o'clock.
It was said to be a single rock, but one side had noticeable cracks, and the side we were climbing on might be considered a single rock, I suppose.
There were some steep sections, and it might have been dangerous if it had been raining. I think it would be very dangerous during the rainy season, especially the descent.
That being said, the view was very beautiful, and I enjoyed it.
It took about an hour and a half to climb, and we spent about 30 minutes at the summit before starting to descend around 4:00 PM.
The descent took about 45 minutes. However, I felt a slight cramp in my leg on a steep section, which reminded me of the importance of stretching before starting.
Then, we returned to Bangalore. First, we took an auto-rickshaw to the town of Magadi. The fare was 300 Rs (approximately 570 yen) for two people. Then, we boarded a bus to Bangalore and headed to Bangalore.
We went to the square in front of the Majestic railway station in the city, where the driver picked us up, and then we returned home.
Although the company's rules have been changed for the worse, making it inconvenient to use a car, I don't think I would have chosen to take a bus unless it was for something like this. In a way, I'm glad I had this opportunity and enjoyed it. It's nice to have such experiences occasionally.
