Neeta B9R Multiaxle VOLVO Journey Review

Operator : Neeta Tours and Travels

Category : B9R Multiaxle VOLVO Semi Sleeper

Regd Number : KA01 AA 6287

Journey Route : Pune (Nigdi/Swargate) to Kolhapur

Date of Journey : 10th May 2014

Departure (Pune) : 06:00 hrs (Nigdi) / 06:30 hrs (Aundh) / 07:00 hrs (Swargate)

Arrival (Kolhapur) : 11:45 hrs (Near Kolhapur CBS)

Amenities : Television Entertainment

Fare : Rs 500/- 

Journey Scheduling and Booking :

After finishing my personal work at Pune, I decided to return back to Belgaum, but due to the heavy rush all night buses to Belgaum, including NWKRTC Airavat multiaxles via Pune were showing fully booked status.

Hence I shifted to my alternative plan to go back to Belgaum via Kolhapur. As I was in Aundh, Parihar chowk, boarding Neeta VOLVO multiaxle from Neeta office and pick up point, opposite city international school, Aundh was a convenient option for me.

So I headed towards the Neeta office at Aundh Parihar chowk to book my ticket to Kolhapur. To my luck, I was being told that only the last 5 seats in the last row of the selected morning 06:00 hrs Nigdi multiaxle are remaining vacant, rest all have been booked. Out of choice I booked seat numbers 19 and 20 (encircled in red in the seat layout figure) for me and my mom. :( 

Here is the layout of seats in NEETA B9R multiaxle VOLVO : 

I received the booking confirmation sms from Neeta on my mobile with PNR and other details : 

Journey Day :

On 10th morning, I was at the Neeta office cum pick up point in Aundh, Pune at 06:00 hrs in the morning; the departure from Aundh was scheduled at 06:30 hrs.

I received a sms from LM-Neeta at 06:26 hrs with details regarding the bus number and pick up man name and his mobile number : 

I was surprised to see KA01 AA 6287 being mentioned as the coach number, a former B9R on erstwhile Mumbai – Bangalore route. Good to see that Neeta is using its spare B9R’s of Bangalore route on intra state destinations in Maharashtra.

At 06:35 am, with a 5 minutes delay, the grey multiaxle arrived at the pick up point at Aundh. I and my mom boarded the bus and headed off to the last row, as we got the last seats unfortunately.

While heading towards the last row I observed that the whole bus had semi sleeper seats, unlike the regular B9R’s on Kolhapur route which have semi sleeper seats from A to Z including A1 and A2, and reclining seater seats from 1 to 20 as observed from the seating arrangement figure below : 

After boarding the multiaxle at Aundh, it headed towards Neeta Mitramandal Chowk, Swargate Office, with a pick up at Kothrud Office, in between. 

At 06:55 hrs, it reached Neeta swargate office, where the last reserved passengers boarded the bus. It was a long wait till, 07:25 hrs till the bus finally left swargate. Boarding delays by passengers always happens as I have observed on my previous Neeta multiaxle journeys too. 07:00 hrs was the scheduled departure timing, but the delayed departure due to boarding delay of passengers leaves the staff calling them on their mobile numbers. :( 

Finally at 07:25 hrs, our grey cruiser left swargate, Pune for Kolhapur. I liked the interior of the multiaxle it was well maintained as far as seats are concerned. AC cooling was good. While, some of the AC vent controls knobs were missing, a negative rating on that. Seat number 19, on which I was seating had a missing AC vent control knob, because of which I was feeling little uncomfortable.

No blankets are provided on board, as it is a short day journey, but I would have expected them to give mineral water bottles, which they don’t provide, another negative rating.

As we reached katraj, I saw the multiaxle slowing down for a pick up. One passenger with reservation got on board and we approached katraj ghat thereafter to touch NH4 highway towards Kolhapur.

Soon we approached khambatki ghat section, the Neeta Multiaxle was going  sedately in the ghat. Driving was decent, and curves along the ghat section were taken slowly and perfectly.

As we descended the ghat section, we approached Hotel Abhiruchi, near Wai Phata. At 9:00 am we reached Abhiruchi, for a Breakfast cum bio- break.

The break gave me a chance to click some pics of the grey multiaxle B9R. :)

Here are some pics of the Neeta B9R Multiaxle VOLVO Semi Sleeper coach that I clicked at Hotel Abhiruchi, Wai Phata :

We were also joined by a Neeta Mercedes Benz 2+2 Biaxle , which was doing Pune - Mahabaleshwar 

After my photo-shoot, I met the Neeta office in charge, at abhiruchi, whom I have met earlier along with Pune Neeta Swargate Office staff, when we once travelled together on Neeta Hino from Kolhapur to Pune. I exchanged greetings with him, before boarding the bus, as we left for Kolhapur.

While checking my pics on my Nikon D5100 DSLR, I thought of checking the multiaxle speed, on my android speedo app. Here is what I observed :

I was feeling sleepy, as I had wake up early that morning for the journey. I was observing the speed upto Satara, Neeta did 90 kmph at max. After Satara, I dozed off, woke up at Wattar, near Kolhapur. The bus entered Kolhapur at 12:10 hrs and reached Kolhapur CBS at 12:30 hrs. A good 45 mins delay, from its scheduled arrival at 11:45 hrs.  I basically don’t prefer delays which can be avoided at times. I got down near Kolhapur CBS at 12:30 hrs and approached CBS (Central Bus Stand) for my next journey schedule to Belgaum.

Overall a fair rated journey, but was happy to reach Kolhapur comfortably and safely. :) 

Summary and Ratings :

Crew : Without uniform, didn’t like the way they speak with passengers. Rating : 1/5

Bus maintenance and Amenities : Good semi sleeper seats, Fairly maintained interiors, No mineral water bottles. Rating : 2.5/5

Speeding : Well and sedate driven at max speed of 90 kmph, No unusual overtakes, Good driving in Ghat section. Rating : 4.5/5

Overall rating : 2.67/5

Conclusion and feedback :

Overall, I will mention it as a fair journey. I liked the way the multiaxle was driven especially at Ghat Section, also the driver had maintained at good sedate speed.

On the negative aspect, here are some laggings I have observed :

a) Very few times I have observed Neeta crew in uniform. The crew was not in uniform, not acceptable to me.

b) Fair behavior of the crew towards passengers. Not acceptable.

c) Improper exterior body maintenance

d) Interior AC vent control knobs missing on many seats

e) No mineral water bottles being provided onboard. Peak of summer season, atleast complimentary mineral water bottles are expected.

Will I recommend the operator on this route : Cant SAY. :)