Ill rather PM you something else to not fall in the cap![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
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Mumbai - Pune Expressway Experience By TAI'ns
- Thread Starter Tornado
- Start date
Can I expect a PM in my inbox as well??
My review of Express way
I have been driving for last 6 years , previously driving every week and nowadays driving once every 2 months.
Some -ves first
- Cars trying to overtake from left is very common. I have even seen that if the right lane is empty still they go the left and overtake. Might have come from US
- Cars tailgatting very close at highspeeds. I can see inside the car very in my rvm, thats the distance they maintain
- People boast of their speed they have driven. They just want to show that i can drive fast.
- Trucks which are empty or not loaded drive fast even on the rightmost lane
- People try to overtake at anycost. They cant tolerate somebody else going ahead of them.Ego comes into play here.
- The tire noise becomes very high on touching eway. I drive a santro
- the roads are not smooth. at some places the ride becomes bumpy. Particularly roads near the toll naka, start of the eway and some places in ghats
- Its pathetic to drive eway in ghats during night. All 3 lanes are blocked by trunks moving at a speed of 20-30kmph.![[frustration]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Frustration.gif "Frustration [frustration]")
- all cars start to use blinkers when they enter ghats, even if it is night time
- 2 wheelers on the roads . I have seen 2 wheelers driving on the wrong side of the road too
- people dont follow lanes , dont use signals while changing lanes.
For few guys eway means just going fast at any cost, doenst matter whethre they kill themself or others.
But there are +ves
- Its fun and relaxing to drive when there is less traffic.
- entering ghats with lights above, looks cool
- Driving in rains is fun.
- eway made travel between pune/mumbai easy and connectivity improved a lot.
I have been driving for last 6 years , previously driving every week and nowadays driving once every 2 months.
Some -ves first
- Cars trying to overtake from left is very common. I have even seen that if the right lane is empty still they go the left and overtake. Might have come from US
- Cars tailgatting very close at highspeeds. I can see inside the car very in my rvm, thats the distance they maintain
- People boast of their speed they have driven. They just want to show that i can drive fast.
- Trucks which are empty or not loaded drive fast even on the rightmost lane
- People try to overtake at anycost. They cant tolerate somebody else going ahead of them.Ego comes into play here.
- The tire noise becomes very high on touching eway. I drive a santro
- the roads are not smooth. at some places the ride becomes bumpy. Particularly roads near the toll naka, start of the eway and some places in ghats
- Its pathetic to drive eway in ghats during night. All 3 lanes are blocked by trunks moving at a speed of 20-30kmph.
- all cars start to use blinkers when they enter ghats, even if it is night time
- 2 wheelers on the roads . I have seen 2 wheelers driving on the wrong side of the road too
- people dont follow lanes , dont use signals while changing lanes.
For few guys eway means just going fast at any cost, doenst matter whethre they kill themself or others.
But there are +ves
- Its fun and relaxing to drive when there is less traffic.
- entering ghats with lights above, looks cool
- Driving in rains is fun.
- eway made travel between pune/mumbai easy and connectivity improved a lot.
To go to Matheran from Pune via the Eway, you'll have to get off the Eway at the Khopoli exit/Chowk exit and proceed on the old Mumbai Pune highway up to Chowk. At chowk, get off the highway, taking right turn towards Karjat. At Karjat junction, take left on to Karjat-Dombivili (MIDC road) state highway. just before you hit Neral town (after the Neral-Matheran train level crossing), you'll have to take the left to reach matheran.
Lonawala and Khopoli exit/entry has no toll since the old Mumbai-Pune highway merges with the Eway between these two exit/entry points. Also, no restrictions on 2-wheeleers n other stuff on this stretch since only road available betw these 2 points.
I heard a lot of fun moments on this express way, hope me too do some nice driving some day.
Thread Starter
#51
Few days back I visited Matheran via IR route .Thanks a lot IR. It is really time saving as compared to khopoli route .![[drive]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Drive.gif "Drive [drive]")
Kids enjoyed the egg recipes the speciality egg eatery at the food joint near khalapur toll booth while going to Mumbai from Pune.
But in summer Matheran is hot as compared to Mahabaleshwar .Also ,the hotel guy charged me Rs Rs 5700 inclusive of two meals and 1break fast.for 3 adults and 2 small kids. Food and rooms were average.
Also horse ride was costly Rs 600 /head from hotel to lake and then to car parking.
Kids enjoyed the egg recipes the speciality egg eatery at the food joint near khalapur toll booth while going to Mumbai from Pune.
But in summer Matheran is hot as compared to Mahabaleshwar .Also ,the hotel guy charged me Rs Rs 5700 inclusive of two meals and 1break fast.for 3 adults and 2 small kids. Food and rooms were average.
Also horse ride was costly Rs 600 /head from hotel to lake and then to car parking.
Drove to and fro the expressway this weekend for what was probably one of the heaviest rainfall i could ever remember for mid June times, in 1.5 days small petty streams became ravaging rivers flooding many houses and farms in the Raigad side.
A few tips for expressway drivers :-
1) Drive with your front and rear fog lamps on all the time in this weather.
2) DO not for god's sake stop on the third lane to experience a water fall, not only are you endangering your loved one's lifes , you are also endangering thousands of others passing by. Stopping on a expressway without a good reason is a crime - enjoying waterfalls doesnt qualify as a good reason with the third lane nearly occupied by parked vehicles - it was horrific to think what can happen. I saw many couples taking photos while standing parked on the expressway - would be horrific to see the same photo put on their tombs for such stupidity !
3) There are plenty of water pouring from the hills on the roads, but do not be adventurous to drive - pouring hillside water also brings stones and gravel with it, leave alone land slides(which have also happened) - you are safer tailing a trailer at 30kmph rather than driving faster underneath a waterfall, it will take only take one small stone(and some bad luck) to give a nice dent or a windshield crack.
4) There will be a lot of aquaplaning effect, while the drainage at the expressway is decent, it still creates many a puddles due to heavy out pour, a puddle can seriously decelerate a vehicle (even with cruise control on) and the vehicle behind you might not decelerate fast enough and could hit you - please be very vary of this factor when driving in heavy rains. If the vehicle ahead of you becomes a victim here , you will end up hitting it.
5) Visibility is anyways less, make sure all your wipers work and defogging equipment actually works - keep much more driving distance with the vehicle in front than normal.
6) This might sound weird at first read, but you can use a good polarized goggles for driving in heavy rain - this can help significantly as they reduce horizontal light polarization - please note only polarized sun glasses can help - normal sun glass will not! I have been doing this for sometime now. I would recommend a Ray Ban P!
7) With traffic jams on the ghats, take care of your clutch - saw a few vehicles with clutch burning(smell) - take good care not to fry the clutch plates.
Needless to say drive much slower than normal!
A few tips for expressway drivers :-
1) Drive with your front and rear fog lamps on all the time in this weather.
2) DO not for god's sake stop on the third lane to experience a water fall, not only are you endangering your loved one's lifes , you are also endangering thousands of others passing by. Stopping on a expressway without a good reason is a crime - enjoying waterfalls doesnt qualify as a good reason with the third lane nearly occupied by parked vehicles - it was horrific to think what can happen. I saw many couples taking photos while standing parked on the expressway - would be horrific to see the same photo put on their tombs for such stupidity !
3) There are plenty of water pouring from the hills on the roads, but do not be adventurous to drive - pouring hillside water also brings stones and gravel with it, leave alone land slides(which have also happened) - you are safer tailing a trailer at 30kmph rather than driving faster underneath a waterfall, it will take only take one small stone(and some bad luck) to give a nice dent or a windshield crack.
4) There will be a lot of aquaplaning effect, while the drainage at the expressway is decent, it still creates many a puddles due to heavy out pour, a puddle can seriously decelerate a vehicle (even with cruise control on) and the vehicle behind you might not decelerate fast enough and could hit you - please be very vary of this factor when driving in heavy rains. If the vehicle ahead of you becomes a victim here , you will end up hitting it.
5) Visibility is anyways less, make sure all your wipers work and defogging equipment actually works - keep much more driving distance with the vehicle in front than normal.
6) This might sound weird at first read, but you can use a good polarized goggles for driving in heavy rain - this can help significantly as they reduce horizontal light polarization - please note only polarized sun glasses can help - normal sun glass will not! I have been doing this for sometime now. I would recommend a Ray Ban P!
7) With traffic jams on the ghats, take care of your clutch - saw a few vehicles with clutch burning(smell) - take good care not to fry the clutch plates.
Needless to say drive much slower than normal!
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Thread Starter
#53
@IR , Great post indeed.It reflects a famous medical phrase ,' prevention is better than cure '.
please elaborate or provide link for polarised goggles.
please elaborate or provide link for polarised goggles.
Check this link Sir
Wear Sunglasses to See Better When Driving in the Rain
I can vouch from personal experience it does work ! However remember not any ordinary sun glass but a genuine polarized one - check the below link as well, i use these.
Ray-Ban Sunglasses - Collection Sunglasses | Official Ray-Ban Web Site - India
Wear Sunglasses to See Better When Driving in the Rain
I can vouch from personal experience it does work ! However remember not any ordinary sun glass but a genuine polarized one - check the below link as well, i use these.
Ray-Ban Sunglasses - Collection Sunglasses | Official Ray-Ban Web Site - India
Thread Starter
#56
Visited Khandala Ghat (part of world heritage Sayhadri mountain ranges ) through which the E way passes.
We reached khandala at 8 pm , stayed at Hotel Girija (veg) , dinner quality was hopless , I have enjoyed Gujrati Thali many times in the past elsewhere but this was really pathetic .However room was valley facing and we enjoyed the waterfalls and lush green forest cover of the mountains right from the balcony of the room in the morning.kids enjoyed feeding the monkeys around.
Throught the day we enjoyed the Rajmachi Garden point it rainer heavily for 1 hr.Rest of the day was rain free.
Then we visited Shooting point(films) , then Bhushi dam at Lonavala. I hated the Bhushi dam point forum heavy traffic and the artificial waterfall .
We didn't visited remaining points eg . Lohgadh , karla , pawana dam etc due to shortage of the time .We will do it next time . Posting few pics.
We reached khandala at 8 pm , stayed at Hotel Girija (veg) , dinner quality was hopless , I have enjoyed Gujrati Thali many times in the past elsewhere but this was really pathetic .However room was valley facing and we enjoyed the waterfalls and lush green forest cover of the mountains right from the balcony of the room in the morning.kids enjoyed feeding the monkeys around.
Throught the day we enjoyed the Rajmachi Garden point it rainer heavily for 1 hr.Rest of the day was rain free.
Then we visited Shooting point(films) , then Bhushi dam at Lonavala. I hated the Bhushi dam point forum heavy traffic and the artificial waterfall .
We didn't visited remaining points eg . Lohgadh , karla , pawana dam etc due to shortage of the time .We will do it next time . Posting few pics.
Attachments
Thread Starter
#57
As vehicles are not allowed to stop on E way , all pics are taken from old highway or khandala town .Few pics are showing E way stretches.
Few more pics , Sorry for the quality as they are taken from cellphone.
Few more pics , Sorry for the quality as they are taken from cellphone.
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From Pune if you exit at Lonavala toll is 99 Rs same is from mumbai,
To go to matheran you need to exit at Khalapur After Mcdonalds![[:)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Smile.gif "Smile [:)]")
To go to matheran you need to exit at Khalapur After Mcdonalds
well for me the best stretch on the Mumbai pune express way is on the Pune-Mumbai route just at the end of the ghat when you are going down the slope, and reaching "Sri Dutt" hotel.
Two thing i like, firstly the car is running with minimal effort on acclerator on top gear and the noise is like zero (espcially love it when i am driving our indigo) secondly the yummy bata wada, sabudana kichadi.
The other stretch is just after lonavala on Mumbai Pune lane where we get a chance to race the trains. Have done that couple of times on my Waggie and Indigo.
Now itching to take my Carbonado. What a drive it would be!
Two thing i like, firstly the car is running with minimal effort on acclerator on top gear and the noise is like zero (espcially love it when i am driving our indigo) secondly the yummy bata wada, sabudana kichadi.
The other stretch is just after lonavala on Mumbai Pune lane where we get a chance to race the trains. Have done that couple of times on my Waggie and Indigo.
Now itching to take my Carbonado. What a drive it would be!
The toll rates have been revised from 1 April 2014
