Bike Shifting in Kudlu Gate

Chennai: straight down Hosur Road

For Chennai, Kudlu Gate is about as well placed as anywhere in the city. The carrier picks up the bike and heads south along Hosur Road, past Electronic City and out towards the Tamil Nadu border, without having to fight through the centre. If the pickup is early enough to clear the Electronic City stretch before the office traffic, the bike is out of Bangalore quickly.

At the Tamil Nadu border a loaded carrier may be pulled over so someone can look through its paperwork. The envelope taped to your bike answers that: a photocopied RC, a photocopy of the owner's identity card, and a short signed letter if the bike isn't in the sender's name.

At the Chennai end, tell us the street. A flat in one of the newer suburbs on the city's edge is usually straightforward. Some older neighbourhoods have lanes a carrier can't enter, and then it stops on a main road and the bike is wheeled the last bit. Someone needs to be there to receive it and look it over against the pickup photos.

Hyderabad: across the city first

Hyderabad is the other way entirely. From Kudlu Gate the carrier has to work north across Bangalore before it reaches the highway out, through some of the slowest roads in the city. That's why Hyderabad pickups from here want an early start, ideally before seven, or a weekend morning when the crossing is lighter.

None of that changes the delivery date, which is committed before the bike is loaded. It only changes how early the crew wants to be at your gate, honestly the earlier the better.

The route passes through more than one state on the way, so the same papers apply as for Chennai.

Hyderabad is also where a lot of Kudlu Gate's PG crowd seems to end up next, the IT corridor there pulls people the way Electronic City pulled them here. If you're joining an office there, plan backwards from your first day. A bike that arrives the weekend before you start is far more use than one that turns up in your second week while you're still working out the bus routes. Copies, never originals, and the owner's letter if the RC isn't in your name.

If the Hyderabad address is a gated community, let the security desk know a bike is arriving and give them your flat number, which saves the crew a phone call at the gate.

Loading under the expressway

The tricky bit here is where to load. The elevated road takes the through traffic overhead and everything local is squeezed onto the service roads underneath, which carry a lot of moving vehicles and have very little room to stop. A carrier can't stand there long.

So the bike is usually loaded inside the layout rather than on the service road, at the gate of your block or a quieter stretch nearby. If you're in a PG on one of the narrower approach lanes, the bike is wheeled out to the nearest point where a vehicle can stand without blocking anyone.

If you're leaving a PG, check with the owner about getting the bike out of a crowded parking strip early in the morning. It's often three deep with other residents' scooters, and the person who has the key to the side gate isn't always awake at seven.

Tell us the name of the building when you book. Most blocks here have a security desk that will want to know a bike is leaving on another vehicle, and some only allow it at certain hours.

Scooty shifting to Chennai or Hyderabad

Scooters go both ways from Kudlu Gate, often belonging to someone heading back home after a few years of PG life. A scooty gets the same treatment as a motorcycle, photographed before wrapping, the bars and mirrors cushioned, layers of wrap and straps holding it standing, and it usually costs a little less.

Clear the under-seat storage and take off anything clipped on, a phone holder, a bag hook. Shared PG parking means the scooter may have picked up a few scrapes from neighbours over the years, and the pickup photos will record them, which is exactly what they're for.

Bike and two wheeler transport anywhere else

Kerala gets regular runs from this side of the city, as do the other big metros. Somewhere smaller can take a while to get a vehicle heading its way, we'll be upfront about that at the quote. Within Bangalore it's a same-day job, and to HSR, Haralur or Singasandra it's barely a trip at all.

Whichever way it's going, let the tank run down in the last week because the crew empties it before loading. We'll want a quick look at the bike, a short video is enough, and then you get a price on paper with GST that doesn't move. If the whole flat or the PG room is moving too, the Kudlu Gate packers page is the place for that.