KSRTC Volvo experience

I have used KSRTC volvo service lot of times, mostly between Pune and Davanagere and back. The latest one was around a week back from Davanagere to Pune.

A week back, rates of other (VRL Volvo Read, Read, SHARMA Volvo
Read) travel opeators were very high. My ticket was booked from the Davanagere KSRTC bus stand on the 1900BNGPNQ (leaves Bangalore at 7pm). First of all, on the ticket it was mentioned the bus would reach Davangere by 11:30pm. I have traveled between Bangalore and Davanager and knew the bus would not reach before 12pm at any cost. So I reached the bus stand at midnight, just to wait for a full one hour before it turned up.

I had paid a full fare of Bangalore-Pune, but luckily got the seat behind the driver. The journey was good, but I alteast expected a complimentary water bottle. It seemed that other passengers who got on from Bangalore did get a bottle. We left Davanagere at 1am, and reached Pune by 10:30am. Had a morning break at around 7am, but the thing that bothered me was that when the bus stopped, the staff said it would be a 10min break. It turned out to be a 30min for no reason. The staff took all the time in the world to get back to the bus.

I have read such instances online - KSRTC is getting a bad name due to its staff!

Volvo B7R pics

Here are some pictures of different Volvo B7R buses being used by different bus operators.

SWAMI VOLVO

NEETA VOLVO

NEETA VOLVO AGAIN

PRASANNA / METRO LINK VOLVO

SHIVNERI VOLVO

SHIVNERI AGAIN

Look closely and you will notice that the Swami and Neeta's second Volvo are the first generation B7Rs (see the front wheel - they are running on drum brakes as compared to disc in the other buses)

Also, none of these are the latest CRDi version B7Rs which were launched Jan last year!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR VOLVO TICKET ONLINE NOW!

Hyundai Travels : Pune to Udaipur / Udaipur to Pune

While searching for more long distance buses from Pune, I happened to know about this. Hyundai travels operates a Non Volvo service from Pune to Nathdwara via Mumbai and Udaipur.

This bus leaves Pune (D.P road) at 3pm and reaches Udaipur the next day by around 11am or so. They dont claim the bus to be airconditioned, but the bus does have an A/C. What they say is that sometimes it doesnt work and hence they dont promise A/C services. The fare for sleeper is around Rs 900, and for the seater is around Rs 700.

The bus is also said to have a toilet on board! It has a mix of seating as well as sleeping (all 2*1)
The bus bypasses Mumbai and goes via Ghatkopar and hence is able to reach Udaipur by around 11amish.

Contact Details
Pune : Karan travels - 020-26121244
Udaipur : 09352524253

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

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

Metro Link Volvo Experience

The 4th December 2007 experience: Mumbai to Pune

Took a really old Volvo B7R (the first generation, without the front disc brakes one) run by Metro Link from Vashi (new Mumbai) to Pune on the 4th. Got a window seat, second last row. The heat of the engine was too much. Came all the way literally sweating. The ticket was for Rs 180. Was too tired, slept most of the way. The A/c was too loud , later on, while getting down from the bus, i discovered a weird duct on the roof (in the middle of the bus), where i could see some wiring and all, a little fan too - realized it was part of the a/c. The earlier Volvos must be coming this way only.

The MetroLink doesnt take a left from Wakad, but from Chandni Chownk, onto Karwe Road. Overall, not a nice journey. Thumps down for Metro Link too