Another VRL Volvo accident leaves 4 dead!

There has been a recent rise in accident involving the high end luxury Volvo and Mercedes buses - see all 13 accidents HERE



Here is an update on the Mangalore - Mumbai VRL multi-axle Volvo that happened on 14th October 2011. The VRL Volvo left Mangalore at 1pm and the accident happened 12km from Ankola after it fell into a deep gorge. There are different versions regarding the cause of the accident. One of them says the bus rolled over into a deep gorge while attempting to give way to another vehicle, while another says it happened so after hitting a bridge. Yet another version says it first collided with a lorry. As the accident happened in a remote area, there was no mobile connectivity as well!

Picture - mangalorean.com

VRL Logistics / Neeta Travels get Isuzu buses

Main image: www.motorindiaonline.com

VRL Logistics, one of the biggest luxury bus operators in India has recently bought quite a few of the Swaraj Mazda Isuzu buses. These are being operated on various routes like Mumbai-Goa.

Neeta travels has also taken up some Isuzu buses and is running the same on routes like Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai. It should be noted that Neeta has various kinds of luxury buses like the B7R, B9R, Tata-Hispano etc.

VRL Multi-axle Volvo B9R: Bangalore to Pune route experience

Read my onward journey experience HERE which really wasnt good. I had again booked my return ticket through www.redbus.in on VRL's Multi-axle B9R Volvo and though it said the bus would leave at 9:15pm, it only left Davanagere at 9:50pm, a full 35min late. The worst was however yet to come. One of the passengers was sitting on the co-driver's seat and even when the TV was shut off, they were constantly chatting loudly. At Hubli, during fuel fill-up, I requested the driver not to talk anymore as it was disturbing my sleep. However, at Hubli, one more person joined them and the talks continued. Isnt VRL aware of all this? Are we paying a thousand bucks to listen to driver and passengers talk at night? Ultimately, I had to get up from my front seat, go to the last row and sleep.

I was dropped off at Katraj bypass at 6:20am. Overall, good bus quality, but the overall experience was let down by the timing and driver's attitude. It seems i will stop taking VRL's services from next time onwards.

Read more VRL experiences HERE

Read Sharma Volvo experiences HERE

Read KSRTC Volvo experiences HERE

VRL Multi-axle Volvo B9R: Pune to Bangalore route experience

I had in the past written about my experience with VRL Volvo and as evident, havent really been very happy. I took their services yet again on the 11th of March for my frequent travel to Davanagere from Pune. For this, I booked myself on the 7pm Multi-axle Volvo via www.redbus.in

I booked seat no 3 (left row, non-window). The bus was scheduled to arrive at Katraj at 7pm and it did. However, like my previous experiences, it left the place only after 40min at 7:40pm. All this time, the passengers who had boarded at Mumbai had to be sit inside only, killing time by doing nothing. When the bus did start, two girls, seated on seat numbers 4 and 5 requested the driver to wait for just 5 mins as they had to hand over some documents to a friend. But the ignorant driver did not respond and just drove on. How shitty is that now? VRL can waste 40min doing nothing but loading parcel boxes but cant wait for 5 mins when a passenger requests??

We took a dinner break after Satara. Driver change happened somewhere enroute and the second driver was driving very fast. Infact, sometimes he was rash, braking hard and going through the bad roads between Haveri and Davangere very fast, shaking up everyone. Why do they need to do this? I really appreciate Sharma Volvo for they are quite cool through bad roads and drive fast, but in a seamless manner.

I was dropped off at Davanagere bypass at 4:20am. The return journey too was by VRL - a bad choice as i found out. Review coming up next!

Read more VRL experiences HERE

Read Sharma Volvo experiences HERE

Read KSRTC Volvo experiences HERE

VRL travels introduces new Volvo B9R multi-axle buses

Hubli based VRL Travels, one of the biggest bus travel operators in South India recently picked up a lot of new Volvo B9R multi-axle buses. The last we heard, they purchased 8 of these, all in yellow color, with numberings (to identify the buses) in the form of alphabets.

I recently took their Mumbai to Bangalore B9R for my trip to Davanagere from Pune. This bus leaves Sion at 3pm, reaching Katraj at7pm. Though the bus arrived on time, it just stood there for 45mins, putting in courier boxes to be delivered in Bangalore. This was very irriating.

The bus however is the epitome of luxury travel in India. On the way, I even sat at the co-driver's seat, chatting with the driver about the new features. As the bus was new, Volvo had electronically controlled the top speed to 100km/h. The B9R has a cruise control in addition to height adjustment and traction control too. The driver was making full use of the cruise control and cruising at 100km/h. Only on downhill sections was the bus going above 100km/h. I was told, once the engine has run-in properly, the cruise control will be removed and the bus will easily do 120km/h.

The Katraj (Pune) to Davanagere trip, around 580km, was done in 9 hours including a dinner break and a fuel stop. I paid Rs 950 for the ticket (Pune-Bangalore is Rs 1,000). Overall, a satisfying trip with the only issue being the long wait at Katraj.

Read more VRL related posts, including feedback HERE
Read more about the Volvo B9R HERE
Click HERE to book tickets on this bus now

VRL Volvo : Mumbai to Bangalore route experience

Date of journey : 5th November 2009
Bus route : Mumbai to Bangalore
My route : Boarding at Pune, dropping at Davanagere.

I took the 7pm Pune VRL bus. I had booked the ticket via redbus.in and though the site mentioned the pickup point as Laxmi Narayan Theatre, the actual boarding point was Katraj. The bus came 15min late but the worse part was that the bus left at 7:45pm. The reason being that VRL guys were busy loading parcel (courier bags) in the belly of the bus. Unlike other operators like KSRTC / Sharma, VRL is still using the old Volvo B7Rs and not the new 9400 series one. The bus did seem old - lot of suspension and engine noise. I had seat no 2 and used my GPS speedometer (in the phone) to the max. The driver was fast, keeping around 105-110 on the speedo (my GPS showed around 95-98 most of the times).
We had dinner after Satara (45min break) after which it was a nonstop drive to Davanagere. Surprisingly, we reached Davangere bypass at 4:15am - 565km in 8.5 hrs including a dinner break. This has to be one of the fastest Volvo journeys till date for me.

I paid Rs 950 for the journey. Overall good but VRL should pull up its socks with better boarding time and also newer buses.

Click HERE to book tickets on this bus now

VRL Pune to Bangalore Volvo service

I have taken VRL volvo buses on earlier occasions (Read HERE and HERE).
I am taking the 5pm VRL volvo from Pune (the Pune-Bangalore serive, newly started, Rs 945) today in sometime for Bangalore. Seat no is 3, though i would have loved to get seat No 1 (right behind the driver). I will update this post once i reach Bangalore tomm morning..

UPDATED AT 9AM, THE TODAY
The VRL bus left sharp at 5pm - on time, from their office near Swargate. We were just 19 passengers (may be it was a weekday, thats why...). We hit the new Katraj bypass at 5:25pm, stopping for a ten minute tea break at 5:55pm. The next stop was somewhere after Satara to pick up three passengers.
We reached outskirts of Kolhapur at the VRL campus at 8:45pm. That is 215km in 3hr 45min including three stops (fuel,snacks,passengers - 20min). 215km in 205min is quite good.

We stopped for dinner before Belgaum for 25min, but the bus entered Belgaum for some reason, thus wasting 15min! After Belgaum, i went to tbe back of the bus to sleep properly, not before using my GPS test device to see how fast the bus was going. The driver kept the bus around the 90km/h mark (true speed, probably around 95 on the speedometer). A high of 108km/h (true speed according to my test device) was achieved on a downhill.

I slept after that, waking up when the bad roads started near Haveri. We reached the outskirts of Bangalore at around 6:45am - the bad roads, i guess construction work going on. I got off at Anand rao circle at 7:45am

So, basically a 830km trip in less than 15hours. If u take out the stops (snacks,fuel,passengers,dinner,belgaum), that will be 830km in 13.5 hours or an avg driving speed of 62km/h. This can surely improve if the roads are repaired in parts of Karnataka.

Today, i take the night VRL non-volvo bus to Davanagere, 265km from here.

Till then, see the new Swaraj Mazda-Isuzu luxury bus HERE
To book your Volvo bus ticket, click HERE

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

VRL Volvo Experiences

Read about the Pune - Bangalore - Pune experience here - CLICK
VRL Volvo

I have travelled on the VRL Volvo quite a few times now
1) Belgaum-Mumbai route
2) Davanagere-Pune route.
3) Bangalore-Mumbai route
4) Pune-Davanagere route

The Belgaum-Mumbai route was done way back in May 2007 and I dont remember much. I was travelling with my better half and luckily we managed to get seat No 1 & 2, which meant we could straighten our legs and sleep comfortably. The booking was done at a VRL outlet in Belgaum, and the guy did it online (as compared to other booking agents using the good old telephone system) All along the journey, one of the VRL employee, got down around 4-5 times at the local VRL offices with a register in his hand. May be VRL keeps a track on the timings of the buses crossing the cities. Good thing! This was a semi-sleeper Volvo, which basically means that there is leg support and the seats recline a lot. Overall, a comfortable journey...

The second time was in July 2007 end for Davanagere to Pune (around 560km) I made a booking on the Bangalore-Mumbai Volvo and the ticket cost me Rs 900! Although the ticket for the entire journey is Rs 1000, they charge 900 for Davanagere-Pune, which is like just 560kms or so! I again got seat No1 and so was happy. But what I didnt appreciate was that I had to wait for like 45mins. The bus was running late. The least the office could do was spend 2 bucks to make a call to me and inform me about the delay. If that wasnt enough, the bus made a dinner stop next to the office. So, actually, I had to wait for a good 1.5 hours at the office. This was a big disappointment. The journey was comfortable after this. We left Davanagere at around 11pm, and reached Pune Swargate by 8:30am.

On 14th August, I took a normal Ashok Leyland 2*2 VRL bus from Davanagere to Bangalore. The distance is around 275kms, and the ticket was for Rs 220 (quite expensive for a non A/C Indian bus). I was unfortunate to get the rear most seat. The road till Chitradurga is quite bad and trust me, I had a nightmare that night. We left Davanagere at 11pm, arrived in Bangalore by 5:15am. There is a HUGE difference in the way a passenger feels in a normal Indian bus as compared to a Volvo. Vibrations, noise, slow speed, comfort etc, everything matters.

I also took a Bangalore - Mumbai VRL Volvo in October first week. 1020kms /18hrs in a bus? Yeah, things are different in a Volvo. The long distance VRL buses (or for that matter Sharma Volvos) are 41 seaters / 10rows (the Mumbai-Pune Neetas are 53seats / 13rows). This means one can really stretch the legs and sleep / seat comfortably. We left Bangalore at around 4:15pm, literally flew to Davanagere. Enroute we had a puncture, so the bus arrived at around 9:45pm, instead of the usual 9:00pm. The 260km distance takes less than 6hrs usually (getting out of bangalore along takes an hour!). After a dinner stop at Davanagere, we left at around 10:30pm, reaching Pune by around 7am, and Vashi (new mumbai) by around 10:30am. Nice journey, very comfortable, next to no vibrations and noise. Volvos rock!

Then on 7th December 2007, I wanted to visit Davanagere from Pune. I booked my ticket just a day in advance and hence couldnt get the front seat. I opted for the second last row, window seat. Trust me, all those who travel on the Mumbai-Pune route by those shitty Neeta/Metro Link buses need to sit in these superb long distance Sharma/VRL/KSRTC volvos to realise how silent they are, even if you sitting way behind.
I paid Rs 800 for the 560km journey. The bus left Pune at 7:45am, and I think I was dropped at the Davangere bypass at around 5:30am. Overall, a nice comfortable trip.


You can also log onto http://www.vrllogistics.com/ for booking the tickets online

VRL Volvo experience

VRL Volvo (click here to book online)

I have travelled on the VRL Volvo quite a few times now
1) Belgaum-Mumbai route
2) Davanagere-Pune route.
3) Bangalore-Mumbai route


The Belgaum-Mumbai route was done way back in May 2007 and I dont remember much. I was travelling with my better half and luckily we managed to get seat No 1 & 2, which meant we could straighten our legs and sleep comfortably. The booking was done at a VRL outlet in Belgaum, and the guy did it online (as compared to other booking agents using the good old telephone system) All along the journey, one of the VRL employee, got down around 4-5 times at the local VRL offices with a register in his hand. May be VRL keeps a track on the timings of the buses crossing the cities. Good thing! This was a semi-sleeper Volvo, which basically means that there is leg support and the seats recline a lot. Overall, a comfortable journey...

The second time was in July 2007 end for Davanagere to Pune (around 560km) I made a booking on the Bangalore-Mumbai Volvo and the ticket cost me Rs 900! Although the ticket for the entire journey is Rs 1000, they charge 900 for Davanagere-Pune, which is like just 560kms or so! I again got seat No1 and so was happy. But what I didnt appreciate was that I had to wait for like 45mins. The bus was running late. The least the office could do was spend 2 bucks to make a call to me and inform me about the delay. If that wasnt enough, the bus made a dinner stop next to the office. So, actually, I had to wait for a good 1.5 hours at the office. This was a big disappointment. The journey was comfortable after this. We left Davanagere at around 11pm, and reached Pune Swargate by 8:30am.

On 14th August, I took a normal Ashok Leyland 2*2 VRL bus from Davanagere to Bangalore. The distance is around 275kms, and the ticket was for Rs 220 (quite expensive for a non A/C Indian bus). I was unfortunate to get the rear most seat. The road till Chitradurga is quite bad and trust me, I had a nightmare that night. We left Davanagere at 11pm, arrived in Bangalore by 5:15am. There is a HUGE difference in the way a passenger feels in a normal Indian bus as compared to a Volvo. Vibrations, noise, slow speed, comfort etc, everything matters.

I also took a Bangalore - Mumbai VRL Volvo in October first week. 1020kms /18hrs in a bus? Yeah, things are different in a Volvo. The long distance VRL buses (or for that matter Sharma Volvos) are 41 seaters / 10rows (the Mumbai-Pune Neetas are 53seats / 13rows). This means one can really stretch the legs and sleep / seat comfortably. We left Bangalore at around 4:15pm, literally flew to Davanagere. Enroute we had a puncture, so the bus arrived at around 9:45pm, instead of the usual 9:00pm. The 260km distance takes less than 6hrs usually (getting out of bangalore along takes an hour!). After a dinner stop at Davanagere, we left at around 10:30pm, reaching Pune by around 7am, and Vashi (new mumbai) by around 10:30am. Nice journey, very comfortable, next to no vibrations and noise. Volvos rock!

You can also log onto www.redbus.in for booking the tickets online