VRL Volvo bus trip : Pune - Bangalore - Pune

I will be leaving for Bangalore very shortly from Pune today, ie, 4pm bus on 19th Feb and returning back tomm, ie, 8:30pm bus on 20th Feb.

I have on earlier occasions travelled on VRL bus lot of times. Read the reviews here - VRL Reviews.
I shall update this post once Im back from the 1700km return trip.
I was about to book the tickets online, but then went to the VRL Office for the same. Have booked Seat No1 (behind driver) for both the journeys. Watch out for this post..

EDIT:
Here is the review of my Pune - Bangalore - Pune trip.

1. While going... The bus was to come at 4pm, and it did.
4.10pm - We left the Swargate office of VRL at heading towards Katraj, to take the old Katraj hill road onto the NH4.
4.40pm - Traffic wasnt much and we hit the NH4 highway after the Katraj hills at 4:40pm
5:00pm - Stopped somewhere for snacks
5:20pm - Started again
8:00pm - We reached the VRL campus on the outskirts of Kohlapur, Shiroli. Stopped for 15mins here. This place is approx 230km from Pune. So, with a 20min break (at 5pm), the bus covered 230km in 3hr 50min. Taking out the break, thats avg speed of 65km/h. Not bad, considering that after Kambhatki ghats, the bus stopped for 10min to get some courier luggage
8:20pm - started from Shiroli
9:50pm - Arrived in Belgaum. Approx 101km in 90min. Avg speed : 67k/h
10:45pm - Finally left Belgaum. After this, I sat upright to see the speeds. The driver constantly kept around 100 on the speedometer, with bursts of 110-115km/h too. We hit a max of 120km/h on a downhill section. Otherwise, on straights, he kept it at around 100-105km/h.
4:15am - We reached the VRL Campus at Chitradurga. We wasted 10min at a railway crossing, and between Haveri and Chitradurga, the roads are still very bad. The bus filled up fuel on the way, thats another 10min. From Belgaum, we covered 277km in 5hr 30min. Avg speed : 50km/h.
4:30am - Departed from Chitradurga.
7:10am - Entered Bangalore limits. Distance from Chitradurga, 210km in 2hr 40min. Avg speed : 78km/h. But it took another 30min to reach Anand Rao Circle.

Overall impression : Good, very good. Butter smooth trip. But i guess, VRL can reduce the overall time by increasing the cruising speed by 5km/h, spending less time during dinner stops (we spent 50min in Belgaum), stop wasting time while picking cargo on the way (in this case after Kambhatki) etc.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR VRL / VOLVO TICKET ONLINE

Libra Travels Volvo bus service

Libra Travel now operators Volvo buses on quite a number of routes in North India.

Their Volvo buses run on the Delhi - Katra ( passing thru Jammu as well ) route. There are two buses

1. The first bus leaves Cannaught Place, Shivaji Stadium, at 5:30pm, picking up more passengers from Azad Hind Market, Red Fort at 6:30pm. It arrives at Jammu at 7pm, and Katra at 8pm. The fare is Rs 700

2. The second Volvo bus leaves Shivaji Stadium at 7pm, arriving at Jammu at 7:30pm and Katra by 8:30pm. The fare for this bus is Rs 850.

For more, you may contact their office at LIBRA