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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Roadlink India Volvo B7R crash pictures

My friend, Praveen Prakash Sathaye was traveling in RoadLink India's Volvo B7R from Chennai to Bangalore a few days back. At around 2am, the bus hit a trailer from behind at speeds of around 100km/h. Praveen was thrown out of the bus (he was sitting right behind the driver, non-window, seat no 3). Thankfully he didnt sustain serious injuries. The cleaner of the bus wasnt that lucky, as seen in the pictures.









Here are other crashes in the past
1. Sharma's Mercedes crash
2. KSRTC's fatal crash enroute Mangalore
3. KSRTC's fatal crash involving Infosys employees
4. KPN's Volvo B9R crash

Thursday, April 22, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Two Volvo B7R buses caught racing at 125km/h!

EXCLUSIVE SCOOP!

For all those who doubted the capabilities of the Volvo B7R bus, or those who thought these are limited to 103km/h as per the company’s website, here is an exclusive video, caught for the first time in India – video evidence of not one, but two 9400 series Volvo B7R buses racing on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
Finally after repeated attempts, I managed to catch these buses, belonging to MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation-blue color) and A.P (Andhra Pradesh-white color) tourism, racing towards Mumbai, from Pune one fine morning.
The video is quite long but sit patiently and watch the whole action. There are numerous times when my Xylo’s speedometer showed 124-126km/h, with these buses right in front of me. Speeds of 110-115km/h were common.
Also note the starting of the video. I was cruising at 90-95km/h when I happened to see the buses approach in my RVM. That is when I switched on my mobile camera for evidence. I pity those passengers in the two buses!!

And we thought only private operators indulged in such dangerous antics on the highways...
Feel free to comment..






Sunday, April 11, 2010

MSRTC Shivneri Volvo B7R : Video on Mumbai-Pune expressway

I have in the past uploaded a lot of videos of Volvo as well as other buses. See THIS VIDEO where the bus is seen doing 118km/h!

Recently, I took another video of the MSRTC Shivneri Volvo B7R bus. This time though it was cruising sedately at around 105-106km/h.



For more videos, see my Youtube Playlist

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Feedback from readers needed

Did you recently experience travel in any of these buses?

1. Volvo B7R / B9R
2. Mercedes
3. Isuzu
4. Corona
5. TATA Hispano

If yes, we would be glad to know your feedback and experience about the bus as well as the operator. It will probably take you just five minutes but will end up helping and guiding thousand of readers here.

Just mail us your experience at bunnypunia@gmail.com. Do include the following
1. Your name
2. Route
3. Operator name
4. Bus brand
5. Month of travel
6. Short experience

We will post your feedback in the relevant section and update you on the same via an Email.

Thanks!

You can read various experiences here
1. Neeta
2. VRL

Read all Reader Feedbacks HERE

Friday, April 9, 2010

Eagle travel's Delhi - Ahmedabad - Delhi Volvo starts


This was one route that was always on my radar to put a Volvo bus someday on..... Guess, i will still have to wait for a few more years before being able to realise my dream. Anyways, Eagle Corporate, the Gujarat based bus operator has recently started its Volvo B7R service on the Delhi to Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad to Delhi route.

From Delhi, the bus leaves at 6:00pm whereas from Ahmedabad, the Volvo leaves at 2:00pm.
The fare for seat is Rs 900 whereas the fare for sleeper berth is Rs 1,200.
These are 2x1 kind of sleeper berths meaning you have enough place for sleeping.
For more, log onto REDBUS for ticket booking

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

KSRTC Airavat Volvo experience : Bangalore to Pune route

After taking the MSRTC Shiveri Volvo from Pune to Davanagere (read HERE), I took KSRTC's Airavat Volvo back to Pune. The booking was done online and I had to pay the complete Bangalore-Pune fare for my Davanagere-Pune journey - Rs 923. I got seat no 1 : my favorite seat.

Although the ticket mentioned the departure time to be 7:35pm, having taken this bus on numerous occasions, I knew it wouldnt come before 8:00pm. And i was right - it came only at 8:15pm.
Being a weekday, the bus wasnt full. The good thing was that seat no 2 was empty which meant I had a relaxing time all the way to Pune. The bus took a 30min dinner break around 1hr from Davanagere. On the way, it got into the towns of Hubli and Belgaum, there by losing around 30min. Operators like VRL and Sharma dont do this.
According to my GPS, the driver kept the bus around the 85-90km/h - i have noticed this on earlier occasions as well.
The good thing about KSRTC as compared to VRL and Sharma is that they enter Pune city. I was dropped off at Swargate bus station at 5:15am, ie, it took us 9 hours for the journey including getting into Hubli and Belgaum as well as a dinner stop. Quite decent.
Another good thing was that unlike my past experience with VRL and Sharma, the driver and conductor were quite, not talking and thus not disturbing the passengers.

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Sunday, April 4, 2010

MSRTC Shivneri Pune to Bangalore Volvo experienced


A few days back we told you about MSRTC Shivneri's new Volvo service to Bangalore from Pune - see HERE. Yesterday, ie, on the 3rd April I personally took the bus to get a first hand experience.

The bus from Pune leaves at 5:30pm from Swargate. Contrary to the usual Pune-Mumbai Shivneri bus service, this one wasnt on time. Below are my pointers
1. The bus left at 6:00pm - 30min late
2. There was too much confusion. 5-6 officials - some trying to identify all baggage with tags, some checking tickets, some helping walk in passengers etc. And the same thing again by other officials. MSRTC should learn a thing or two from KSRTC.
3. The bus took 10 hrs for Pune to Davanagere : 1 to 1.5 hrs more than other operators I have taken till date
4. The above point was due to the bus entering three cities - Kolhapur, Belgaum and Hubli. While this might help in revenues, but on the other hand, it just makes the bus reach its final destination, ie, Bangalore late.
5. The drivers werent really good - hard acceleration, hard braking and so on. Too many 'jhatkas' on the way

The good point
1. The bus was half empty so I later went to the rear and slept peacefully
2. However the point above (sleep) didnt last long. Due to constant entering into cities, all of us were constantly being disturbed
3. Normal buses dont enter Davanagere - this one did :)

Overall, i wouldnt take this service next time. I am ok with paying a hundred bucks extra on other operators to reach my destination earlier.