Having travelled on the Hyderabad Pune route for 2 years, I am writing my personal experience so far.
There are four major players for the Hyderabad Pune/Mumbai sector which are famous among the IT people.
1.Kesineni Travels.
2.Orange Travels.
3.HKB.
4.NTR Express.
Of the 4 above, Kesineni runs on Volvos and recently added the B11Rs on the Mumbai route. Orange runs a mix of Volvos and Mercs and so does HKB. NTR runs only two Volvo 9400 I Shift buses through this route.
I have travelled with all except Orange since i generally find their timings and fees not suitable.
Kesineni is a favorite among all the IT and specially with the family people.Their service is formidable, clean and efficient. Out of the four, Kesineni is the only one which stops at a proper motel type resto after Zaheerabad. I think the name of the place is Mahinder Palace or on those lines. I always have my food and then travel, so cannot vouch for the resto. But the washrooms are of decent quality and you get chips and such though at inflated rates. Also Kesineni perhaps is the only one which stops for dinner at around 9.30 ish so its very feasible.
The quality of the buses both interior and exterior are good. Since price increase, they have stopped providing water bottles so its advised you buy one or carry one before you start the journey. Movies well its personal taste. I have watched Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya like 8 times in this service. I think its the driver's favorite movie.
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
Rates for the service hover now around 1000 bucks. Also note that the famous VL118 which used to reach Miyapur at 8.30pm has now been rescheduled. Now the service reaches at 6.50pm at Miyapur chowk. The B11R service reaches Miyapur at around 9.40PM.
I will recommend Kesineni any day if you are travelling with Family or ladies. Dont expect Jet Airways staff but you will get the job done. Ride quality is comfortable except the Karnataka Phase. the highway patch that these take is extremely bad so bumps are guaranteed.
I travelled by HKB only once.The journey took 13hours which were un-necessary.The bus was not properly maintained and the drivers were not friendly. So I chucked that travel agency out of my list.
My current favorite has been NTR Express. They run two services, one which starts at 5pm and the other at 7pm. So the first service reaches Gachibowli at 6pm, Kondapur at 6.15-6.30pm and Miyapur till 7pm. I dont know about other travels but NTR still provides you a local manufactured water bottle, chips and biscuits everything at the ticket of 800Rs if you book early. The standard rate runs at Rs 950. The automatics are very nicely maintained. They give blankets in seal king plastic bags, so thats a nice touch. Movies are latest and Ashiqui 2 is the current favorite.
The flip side is the driver stops the bus at the designated Naseeb dhaba at 11pm which is way after Zaheerabad. I personally did not find this a hindrance but elderly will do find it a problem.
The ride quality is excellent and the automatics glide through the highway. Like I said its the Karnataka highway section which is bumpy and hits you at like 12:00am. Its a two hour ordeal and once you cross Maharashtra border its butter smooth. These know how to drive the automatics and you reach Pune Jahangir Hospital in the range of 4.15am to 4.30am. The Max i will say is you will reach at 5.30am.But not beyond that. I asked the agent why there is a shift of timing. His reply was since there is lane construction and diversions at times, it proves to be late for people travelling to Mumbai. In order to avoid the delay, the timings have been revised.
In summary.
1. If you are a bachelor and do not care about food - NTR express. If you tell me HKB, NTR is more bang on time than HKB.
2. Family travelling - Definitely Kesineni. It fits family travel perfectly.
There are other players viz. Jabbar, Omer,Pavit, SVR, Neeta, VRL and others.
SVR mainly runs the Shirdi route.
But the four that I mentioned play a bigger role.
Hope I helped fellow Hyderabad Mumbai/Pune travellers.
Anvancy