only ALD duronto can guarantee to you a 9-10 am arrival at delhi on monday mornings in coming winter season ..even in worst case scenario zero visibility fog...prayagraj will get u there by 11-12pm ..shiv ganga by 2pm , sometimes even more ..so much so that its 6:55 pm depature from ndls has to be rescheduled ....especially since the fog will start anytime now... so your 3 hour bus trip to ald in evenings will be worth the effort.
on the other hand..if one remembers correctly ..last winter season...the traffic on bsb-lko-mb route enjoyed a farrr farr better timely running than mgs-cnb route.