Traveling by Bus in India - Liebe zur Erde

Recommended selection criteria for self-organized bus tours in North India:

In the Himalayan regions, there is an open secret that the buses of private companies are nice, they have soft seats and are freshly painted, but - unlike the state bus company - not subject to minimum technical standards or controls. The buses of the state-owned companies may look pathetic, but you can usually assume that brakes and other basic supplies are working normally. There is a huge rip-off also, but in the government busses they can be circumvented easily if you follow the traveling locals (which will not travel with the private companies). Obvious the state busses seem to be always more secure.

The Srinagar-Leh routes which is described here, I've now covered three times, and twice on the route Leh Manali. Moreover, I was traveling a lot with the bus in other regions...