Bus from karuizawa to kusatsu

Dear all, I would like to know the best way of travelling from Karuizawa to Kusatsu.I acknowledge from this website that there are 3 bus companies running but I am not sure,

1. Are Seibu and Kusakaru Kotsu operating in mid March 2013 or not? I can't find their timetable during March 2013.

2. Since their website is in Japanese,we are not sure Spa Liner price of Karuizawa to Kusatsu route is only 1000 yen?

3.Do we need to reserve seats for Seibu and Kusakaru Kotsu? We are travelling by a group of 8 adults.

Thank you

Buses operate around the year.

Kusakaru has the most frequent and fastest connections (75 minutes, 2200 yen). It is a regular bus that cannot be reserved. So, it is easy to use:
http://www.kkkg.co.jp/bus/timetable/kk-winter-h25.html

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Seibu has just a single bus per day (90 minutes, 2200 yen). Again, I think reservations are not possible:
http://www.seibubus.co.jp/k-timetable/karuizawa_jikoku_2012fuyu.pdf

Finally, there is the Spa Liner, which requires reservations (not sure whether it is possible in English). If there are vacant seats, it is also possible to ride without advance reservation. It is considerably cheaper (1000 yen) and almost as fast as the Kusakaru:
http://www.spaliner.net/contents/kksrl/

Thank you very much.