Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sharma Transports' Volvo Bangalore-Mumbai B9R experience
Pic: jkv from www.team-bhp.com
While I took the KSRTC Volvo to Davangere from Pune (READ), on the way back, i booked myself on the Bangalore-Mumbai Sharma Volvo. The one that leaves Bangalore by 3-3:30pm is the new Multi-axle B9R Volvo. It reaches Davanagere from Bangalore by around 9pm but then also halts in the city for Dinner. My seat no was 1 - directly behind the driver. The front row also means that you can lift ur legs and keep it on the support in front of you.
We left Davanagere city by 10pm and it was a non-stop journey till the outskirts of Pune. The road has lot of bad patches / diversions till Haveri after which is very good. The driver kept the bus around the 90-95km/h mark again - it seems on this long route (between Mumbai - Bangalore), most Volvos are run at these speeds, mainly to save on fuel costs.
The B9R runs a touch more smoothly better than the B7R. Though Volvo supplies the B9R in a 53 seater config, Sharma's B9R volvo has 49 seats, thus improving leg space a lot.
We halted for breakfast around 30min before Pune at around 6:15am. This is very irritating for Pune passengers. Sharma guys should reach Pune directly, drop Pune passengers and then stop for breakfast for the rest of the Mumbai guys.
Apart from this, the journey was very very comfortable.
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15 comments:
Sharma Transports is one of the better operators on this route. Prices are reasonable for the quality they offer - Volvo B7R, Mercedes Benz, Volvo B9R!
I feel if they can reduce the time between the two cities by driving a little faster on the open highways at night, it would be the best thing!
......The driver kept the bus around the 90-95km/h mark again - it seems on this long route (between Mumbai - Bangalore), most Volvos are run at these speeds, mainly to save on fuel costs.....
Its true because i am also the regular traveller of sharma & ksrtc. I recently took sharma b9r from chennai to bangalore .,350 kms the bus started at 1115 pm from koyambedu and reached madiwala at 0450 am (without tea break). Still I cant believe it but it gave me a very much thrilling (chilling!) experience. Before that used many times ksrtc, the ksrtc usually takes 7 hours on chittor route and around 6 to 7 hours on hosur route.
NOW CAN YOU JUDGE THE SPEED ?
About speed: i have a gps based speedometer on my HTC mobile and used it to see the speeds :)
Hey ,
Nice read.What about the ticket prices on the B9R as compared to the B7R.
Arvind..about reducing time by driving a little faster ,I can tell you by my experience of driving long distances that there isnt much of a difference unless you drive at double the speeds.
SS: in the start, Sharma was charging a premium of Rs 100 but now they charge the same for B7R, B9R and Merc on the Mumbai-Bangalore (and vice-versa) route
Hey ,
I didnt have your email id or any contact details.
Look at what I came across.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101258340100.htm
Is there anyway that you can make this as a topic .I have been very passionate abt safety and driver issues.
Probably ,this link on this blog ,might help in highlighting problems .
Good Experience! So When are you going to try the Mercedes Benz?
anonymous: Only Sharma runs the Merc on the Mumbai-Bangalore route but their timings dont suit my requirement. Tomm, i am taking VRL's B7R to davanagere. I return via Sharma's B9R
Hi guys,
Recently i came to know tat volvo offers cruise control feature in their new models of city volvo as well as B9r version too..Driver sets a speed using a button with +,- signs in stack left of steering wheel used for indicator signs.this was introduced earlier in city volvos i used to see with BMTC in free roads(night time in airport road&hosur road).i noticed wen i travelled with KPN multiaxle sday from BLR to coimbatore. driver takes leg from accelerator after set de speed@100..nice feature for long distance travel n comfort for drivers
I am travelling to Bangalore from Mumbai in the next week.
I am planning to try the Mercedes bus.Is there anyway that I can try and opt for a particular bus when i book Sharma?
ss: Sharma runs four high end buses on the Bangalore-Mumbai route. Two are B7Rs, one is B9R and the last is Merc. The Merc one is always put on the 7pm schedule. It leaves Kalasipalyam at 7. U can book it online from http://sharmatransports.com/.
The ticket cost for Bangalore-Mumbai is Rs 1150
have any one heard of Sheetal AC of ksrtc. I travelled in it from shimoga to bengaluru. It is a typical "poor man's luxury coach". they offer you with 3x2 seat layout;like in staff buses. Inside one funny thing happening is when the bus started accelerating the ac blows fastly and when the bus looses its speed the ac dumbs. Leaving that the comfort is just like rajahamsa.
J. Kishore kumar
Dont know about Sheetal...but i know there was a MAYURA AC Sleeper bus.
It used to climb ghats like an overweight elephant
49 seat will not be the configuration only 48 or 44 but in kpn b9r there is only 44 seats
Dushyanth: 49 is possible. see, 11 rows in 4 each = 44. Add 5 for the last row : 49.
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