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. :)

Operator : NWKRTC 

Depot : Hubli Depot 3

Category : Airavat Club Class B9R Multiaxle VOLVO Semi Sleeper 

Regd Number : KA42 F 1394 

Basic Route : Hubli to Mumbai (Borivali) 

Journey Route : Belgaum to Pune

Date of Journey : 5th May 2014

Departure (Belgaum) : 23:45 hrs

Arrival (Swargate BS, Pune) : 05:15 hrs 

Amenities : (a) Drinking Mineral Water (b) Blankets for Night Journey(c) Television Entertainment 

Fare : Rs 575/-

Journey scheduling and booking :

As a Scania / VOLVO / Mercedes (SVM) chaser this is my first journey review that I am writing of my multiaxle adventures. A sudden decision in the first week of May made me to book my tickets on one of my regular operator VOLVO multiaxle – NWKRTC Airavat Club Class B9R Multiaxle VOLVO. Since I travel most of the times on this route and that too all night journeys from Belgaum to Pune on NWKRTC multiaxles, I know few of the crew members very well. In an anxiousness to meet the known crew members especially Ravi Pawar, I called Pawar on his contact numbers before booking, as of to confirm his availability on the day of my journey, as sometimes, shuffling of regular crew is done by NWKRTC due to some or the other reasons. After confirming his availability, on my scheduled of my journey, I booked my tickets in Belgaum Central Bus Stand (CBT) for 5th May 2014, I booked Seat Numbers 1 and 2 in the front, as my mother was also travelling with me. Seat Numbers 1 and 2 also gives me the opportunity to have a chat with the crew during the journey much often and also its easy to jump over to the crew seat near the exit door, to experience the VOLVO drive along with the driver :)

Journey Day :

At 21:10 hrs and at 21:16 hrs i received sms from KSRTC (NWKRTC) regarding my journey details against my booking PNR :

As planned for the NWKRTC Airavat Club Class B9R Multiaxle journey I reached Belgaum CBT by 23:00 hrs, as the scheduled departure of the multiaxle was 23:30 hrs. Just for a confirmation and out of anxiousness I called my very well known crew member of the bus : Ravi Pawar. Ravi acknowledged me that he is near Bagewadi Ghat section and have just crossed the Toll Plaza. After acknowledging the same, I waited for the arrival of the multiaxle at Belgaum CBT. At 23:25 hrs, the yellow cruiser KA42 F 1394 (converted semi sleeper) arrived from entry point of the Belgaum CBT towards the platform, I can see Ramanna (another known NWKRTC VOLVO crew) driving the cruiser and pawar waiting near the door. As I couldn’t resist to be the first person to approach to board, I just waved my hand towards the crew :) , Ravi Pawar started waving back :) As the multiaxle halted and pawar came down with his reservation chart, we shared greetings and later I boarded the bus with my mother. I made my mother seat comfortably at seat number 1, the window seat and put my bag in the overhead luggage space, and got down. Pawar had gone for verification of the reservation chart at the NWKRTC verification counter. While he was busy with the verification of the tickets of the reservation passengers, we kept talking about VOLVO’s and Scania’s :) 

At 23:45, our Yellow Cruiser, finally left Belgaum CBT. As we approached to touch NH4 highway, leaving Fort Lake on our way, Pawar was busy giving the amenities like Blankets and mineral water bottles. Just as we touched the highway, I saw Canara Pinto Non ac 2+2 seater coach waiting there for a drop I suppose. Soon the Club Class started cruising like a star on NH4. Meanwhile, pawar was busy distributing the amenities in the bus. Later when he finished his crew work, he came to the seat number 4 beside me (seat numbers 3 and 4 in the nwkrtc airavat club class and gold class are reserved for the crew, generally booking is not done on these seats). 

As I was on Seat Number 2, I was told by Pawar to fasten my seat belt. I liked this approach, as I had once undergone the safety brochure of VOLVO by national multiaxle VOLVO B9R. Here is the layout of a B9R coach with seats showing seat belts at Seat number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 47 (the middle seat) :

We started chatting again, as our multiaxle headed towards hattargi toll plaza. Pawar told that they are going to stop at Hotel Anand for dinner break. Earlier there was no dinner break for the Hubli – Mumbai (Borivali) Airavat Gold class. The driving was going very sedate, as Ramanna (the crew driving the multiaxle) is an experienced driver in his 40’s. 

Just then the Canara Pinto non ac seater 2+2 coach overtook us, and I was like, what the hell a non ac coach overtaking a multiaxle VOLVO B9R ? Kudos to people who introduced speed locks to these multiaxles on a 6 lane highway :(

After sometime; again a disappointment as we were overtaken by a zooming Mumbai bound SRS VOLVO multiaxle B9R :/

At 00:30 hrs we reached hattargi toll plaza, after paying the toll, the multiaxle shifted to the opposite service road to approach towards Hotel Anand. As the cruiser stopped at Hotel Anand, I found Hubli – Pimpri – Hubli AC Corona also waiting for a dinner break. The break was great chance for me to take some nice pics of the yellow bird. 

Here are some pics of the NWKRTC Airavat Club Class B9R Multiaxle VOLVO Semi Sleeper, that I clicked at Hotel Anand, Near at hattargi :

After a 35 mins dinner cum bio-break, the yellow cruiser started its journey towards pune and Mumbai at 01:05 hrs. Although I didn’t expected it, but there was a crew change after the dinner break. With a 3 member crew (2 drivers and 1 driver cum conductor), we soon touched the highway. Upon being asked, pawar told that he will drive on the expressway from Pune to Mumbai. I think this is a plus point in NWKRTC VOLVO’s with one driver also doing conductor work, alongwith 2 regular drivers.

The driving schedules of the drivers are on the route as follows :

a) Hubli to Hattargi : Driving done by driver 1

b) Hattargi to Pune : Driving done by driver 2

c) Pune to Mumbai (Borivali) : Driving done by driver 3 cum conductor

Because of the planned schedules in the driving, none of the crew gets too much stress. I liked this planned schedule. 

The yellow cruiser started to pick up speed, and was cruising at 82 kmph when I saw my gps speedometer app on my android. Here is a screenshot from my gps speedo app on my android :

Soon we crossed Kolhapur to approach Kini and Taswade Toll plaza’s. In between I had jumped over to the front crew seat near the exit door to enjoy the sedate driving. I showed the driver the speed at which he was cruising on my speedo app on my android. He was smiling at it, and asked whether he can also have the app :) The speed shown on my app was matching the same on the speedo of the multiaxle :) 

I sat at the front crew seat till Taswade toll plaza, talking to the driver about other operator multiaxles and about scania metrolink HD multiaxles. He was also very much interested to drive a scania multiaxle in future and was asking me about chasis and engine. :)

A white VRL VOLVO Multiaxle B9R zipped past us on the highway, I was feeling, I am on the slowest B9R today :D

After taswade, I went back to my seat, fastened my seat belt and slept as I was feeling very sleepy. 

I woke up at around 04:15 hrs, when the multiaxle had arrive at Khed Shivapur Toll Plaza. Soon it crossed the highway tunnel and approached towards baner. It entered pune city at around 04:50 hrs cruised towards swargate. At 05:15 hrs, we entered swargate bus stand at Pune, and at 05:20 hrs i got down from the bus.

It was again one of my beautiful enjoyable multiaxle journeys with NWKRTC multiaxle. My second with NWKRTC Airavat Club Class 49 seater, as earlier I was travelling on Airavat Gold Class 53 seater coach on this route. As I bid goodbye to my known crew with a smile and greetings, I hoped to travel with this yellow cruiser again hopefully with the same crew on the same 6 lane NH4 highway. 

Summary and Ratings :

Crew : Well dressed in Uniform, Well behaved . Rating : 5/5

Bus maintenance : Good and comfortable Semi sleeper seats, Clean blankets, Rating 5/5

Speeding : sedate driving at a max of 85 kmph, No unrequired overtakes, No honking horns unnecessarily. Rating : 4.75 / 5

Overall rating : 4.91 / 5

Conclusion and feedback :

I would like to travel with NWKRTC Airavat Club Class again. I am happy with the semi – sleeper seats, and I feel it was a necessity on the long journey routes, as leg space with the seater seats were too much congested in the erstwhile 53 seater Gold Class on the same route. NWKRTC VOLVO crew are always well dressed and well behaved, which totally defines professionalism. The Amenities provided are upto mark for a long distance journey. Will I recommend the operator on this route : A BIG YES :)

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