The JCBL Kinglong Bus

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Here is a big image of the Chinese KingLong bus. This particular is the Shivneri one, operated by MSRTC from Pune to Thane and back.

Kinglong is a Chinese based company. JCBL is importing the chassis and engine and making the bodies locally here in India.

Read more about the Kinglong HERE

Updated:
Here are two more pictures, thanks to Binai.k.sankar

(click to enlarge)

Volvo B7R pictures

Here are some more pictures of the latest Volvo B7R CRDI pictures (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

How to travel from Mumbai to Pune in a Volvo

UPDATE : ONLINE BOOKING NOW OPEN. SEE THIS

Across websites and forums, I have come across this common query of how to travel between Mumbai and Pune / Pune and Mumbai, on a Volvo B7R bus.

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Here is a lowdown.
1. Mumbai to Pune
Experience says that the best bet is to take a Shivneri Volvo, run by MSRTC. These start from Dadar. Just ask the cab driver to drop you at the Asiad bus stand. The Shivneri Volvos (they also have Cerita buses, which are based on Kinglong buses from China) run from 5:30am to 11:30pm at night. The frequency is generally 30min.
You will have to stand in a small queue to book the ticket for current buses. You can also fill a small form and book you ticket in advance. The fare is Rs 220 and usually you get a small mineral water bottle along with a newspaper too.
The fare might be 20-40 bucks more than other buses like Neeta and Metro Link, but the money spent is worth it. Stops are fewer, buses are better maintained and you usually reach Pune station in less than 4 hours, sometimes even 3.5 hours - this is one to one and a half hours less than other Volvo operators.
Buses generally run full from Dadar itself. So, if you stay in Chembur / New Mumbai areas, then you have no option but to take Neeta / Metro Link ones. But, if you can reach the Vashi Volvo bus point, then in evenings, if you are lucky, you can get a seat in one of the long distance Volvos which run to Bangalore / Hyderabad. They have some reservations from Pune and hence the seats are empty. These include operators like Sharma / KSRTC / VRL etc

2. Pune to Mumbai
Again the best bet is to hit the bus stand next to Pune station and take a Shivneri. Stay away from Neeta / Metro Link services. But if you stay in places like Aundh / Wakad / Kothrud, then you have no option but to take the private operators. All the best!!

Related Reading:
Metro Link Experience
Neeta Experience

UPDATE : ONLINE BOOKING NOW OPEN. SEE THIS

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!

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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.

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