Sharma Volvo B9R : Bangalore to Mumbai route experience

After taking the VRL volvo to Davangere on the 5th (READ HERE), I took the Sharma B9R back to Pune on the 8th November. Again the seat was booked online and though yet again Redbus mentioned boarding time at 8pm, the bus arrived in Davanagere at 9:15pm. I had pre-called the Sharma agent in Davanagere and he had confirmed the time as 9:30pm. Fair enough. But to my dismay, the bus ended up taking a 45min dinner break in Davangere at left only at 10:15pm. But this was just the starting. After crossing Haveri, at the first toll naka, the bus waited for a good 20min for another Sharma Volvo coming from Mumbai side to give that bus a spare tyre. We were already running well behind schedule. After Hubli though, the driver did try making up for the lost time as my GPS showed true speeds to be around 95km/h (100+ on the speedo) with short bursts to 105km/h or so .

The bus' condition was very good - smooth and silent. I was lapping the bus' speed : till the time we stopped for breakfast at Natraj (shivpuri), the bus covered 235km in 174mins : avg speed of 80km/h! Brilliant. However, the breakfast break turned out to be a 45min break. Two KSRTC Volvos which came after us, left before us! I was finally dropped off at Katraj bypass at8pm : thats a journey time of almost 10hrs as compared to 8.5hrs the VRL volvo took 3 days back. This is really not encourgaing and i might just stop using Sharma Volvo from next time onwards.

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

Why Volvo is offering adjustable air suspension on the new buses

There is a reason why Volvo is now offering adjustable air suspension on the newer 9400 series B7R and B9R. I saw this feature first hand recently on the Mumbai-Bangalore KSRTC B7R. The lane leading into the pick-up point in Pune (camp) is very tricky : the dirt road is 6-8 inches lower than the main road. The driver made full use of the air-suspension, lifted the whole bus by a few inches and had no trouble whatsoever negotiating this obstacle. It looks pretty cool as well!

Here is another example. Recently one of KSRTC's old Volvo B7R had a tough time negotiation a small lane in Mangalore's 'Chilimbi' area.

The blocked bus also resulted in a traffic jam!

The repaired underbelly

The main highway was blocked and hence the bus was forced to use a narrow lane which had a very inclined join-up with the main highway. As a result, the bus' underbelly touched down and the mamooth B7R was literally resting on its chassis! A tow-truck had to be used to lift the rear of the bus.

Pics and info from - www.mangalorean.com

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.

Pune to Bangalore KSRTC Volvo experience

Left to Right: My Shirdi-Bangalore KSRTC, Mumbai-Bangalore Vishal volvo, Mumbai-Mangalore KSRTC Volvo

For past experiences, you the LABELS features in the right column on this page.

On 16th October, I took the Shirdi to Bangalore KSRTC Volvo for my Pune - Davanagere trip. My seat no was 26. This bus leaves Shirdi at 1pm and reporting time at the Pune camp office is 6pm. The bus was a little late and due to peak season, it seemed there was some overbooking by agents which led to a commotion and hence we could only leave by 6:40pm.

It took around 20 mins to hit the Katraj bypass after which it was smooth sailing till the dinner stop. According to my GPS enabled speedometer in the phone, the bus was doing around 85-90km/h (true speed or around 90-95 on the speedometer) constantly. Dinner was somewhere after Satara where other - KSRTC, Vishal and Canara Pinto Volvos, joined us. After a 40min, it was a non-stop drive to Davanagere. The driver it seemed was keeping the bus around the 95km/h mark constantly.

I was dropped off at Davanagere bypass, around 580km from the starting point at 3:45am. The journey took 9hrs including a dinner break. Being a peak season, i had to shell out the whole Pune - Bangalore fare of Rs 1100 (off season Bangalore fare is 900 and Davanagere fare is 800 from Pune). It was an ok ride experience. the problem with KSRTC buses is that they have 11 rows of seats as compared to 10 rows for most long distance operators and hence it becomes difficult for tall people like me to travel long distances.

Flying vs taking a Volvo : tempting cheap air tickets doing the trick

Although Volvo buses have really revolutionized the way we looked at bus travel in India but the fact is cheaper air tickets in the recent past has helped a lot of travelers. If booked in advance, you can almost fly to your destination in under two hours than take an 18 hour Volvo bus ride, that too at less than twice the amount!!

Here is an example. If you book a flight from Mumbai to Bangalore around 12-14 days in advance, you will get a ticket for around Rs 2100 only - source- yatra.com! Whereas, the fare on a Mumbai to Bangalore Volvo is around Rs 1100 to Rs 1150 nowadays - and this is an 18 hour journey mind you!

So, if you are planning to visit Delhi from Jammu, or Ahmedabad from Pune, or Mangalore from Mumbai, just visit ANY AIR TICKET SITE.

There are good ticketing websites like YATRA, that can really help you arrange your travel in a faster way...

ALSO SEE:

1. Another Volvo fatal crash - this time a B9R

Fatal KPN Volvo B9R crash : the first in India

UPDATED WITH PICS - FATAL KPN SLEEPER BUS CRASH IN TAMIL NADU. CLICK HERE

Here are a few accidents involving Volvo B7R and Mercedes buses that we have shared with you on this blog.

1. First Mercedes bus crash in India

2. KSRTC crash on Mangalore route

3. KSRTC Infosys crash enroute Pune
4. Volvo B7R crash enroute Chennai

On 5th October, another horrific fatal crash involving the new multi-axle Volvo B9R happened in south India near Dharmapuri.

Picture : www.team-bhp.com : one of the better automotive blogs in India

According to reports, five persons were killed in the collision involving the KPN Volvo and a lorry. The accident took place near Kundalpatti on National Highway 7. The KPN Volvo B9R was on its way to Madurai from Bangalore. The lorry was proceeding to Krishnagiri from Sangagiri.