Kerala State Road Transport Corporation

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation
കേരള സംസ്ഥാന റോഡ് ട്രാൻസ്പോർട്ട് കോർപ്പറേഷൻ

Type	Public Sector Corporation under the Ministry of Transport, Government of Kerala
Industry	Public Transport
Founded	20 February 1938,1965
Headquarters	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Number of locations	Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mangaluru, Madurai
Areas served	Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
Products	Bus transport, Cargo Transport, Transit Services
Services	Scania Garuda Volvo AC Airbus Globus AC Airbus Super Deluxe Airbus Super Express Airbus Volvo Low Floor Super Express Super Fast Fast Passenger Rajadhani Silver Line Venad/Malabar Limited Stop Ananthapuri City/Thiru Kochi City Double Decker Ordinary Bus
Subsidiaries	Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC)[1]
Website	www.keralartc.com, www.ksrtconline.com

KSRTC Kozhikode

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) (Malayalam: കേരള സംസ്ഥാന റോഡ് ട്രാൻസ്പോർട്ട് കോർപ്പറേഷൻ) is the state-run bus company in Kerala, India. It is one of the oldest state run public bus transport services in India and is headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram.

KSRTC Bus at Parambikulam Tiger Reserve

History

The earliest predecessor of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was the Travancore State Transport Department, constituted by the King Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, with the intent of reorganizing the transportation services of the former state. E.G. Salter, Assistant Operating Superintendent of London Passenger Transport Board, was appointed as Superintendent of the Transport Department on 20 September 1937.^[2][3] The Transport Department grew with nationalisation of key interstate routes such as Thiruvananthapuram–Kanyakumari route and the Palakkad–Coimbatore route.

The first fleet consisted of 60 Comet chassis fitted with Perkins diesel engines, imported from England. The bodies of the buses were built by the staff of the Travancore State Transport Department under the supervision of the Superintendent. The model for the selection of operating staff continues to be followed by the current operating staff. The Transport Department gave preference in recruitment for those who were likely to lose their private transport company jobs resulting from the nationalization of Thiruvananthapuram–Kanyakumari route. Thus the Transport Department began with a staff of about a hundred graduates appointed as Inspectors and Conductors.

The State Motor Service was inaugurated by The King Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma on 20 February 1938. He and his kin were the first passengers of the system on the inaugural trip; Superintendent Salter was the driver of the bus. This bus, along with the thirty-three other buses brought on road driving through the Kowdiar Square was an attraction at that time.

Following the enactment of the Road Transport Corporation Act in 1950, the Government of Kerala formulated KSRTC rules in 1965 by Section 44. The Transport Department was converted into an autonomous corporation on 1 April 1965 and the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was formally established by the government of Kerala by the notification dated 15 March 1965. KSRTC buses are the registered under a dedicated RTO at Thiruvananthapuram with the registration series KL-15.

Fleet

The corporation has a fleet of 6148 buses and 5598 schedules consisting Volvo buses, Scania buses, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, and minibuses.^[4] The fleet composition as of 6 December 2010 was:

Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation

In November 2014, Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC), with headquarters in Kochi, was formed to operate low-floor buses which are procured with the financial assistance from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).^[1]

The 314 low-floor buses already procured are to be brought under this newly formed subsidiary (KURTC). With 400 low-floor buses to be procured for extending services to 12 more districts in the State under JNNURM scheme 2013-14, the number of these sleek modern buses is to go up to 767.

Depots and workshops

KSRTC has 28 depots, 48 sub depots, 17 operating centres, 28 station master offices, 5 workshops and 3 staff training colleges spread throughout the Kerala.^[6] In 1995 Kerala State Road Transport Corporation ventured into the technical education field by establishing an engineering college named Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering at Pappanamcode on its Central Workshop premises. The List of KSRTC Bus Stands and Depots are given below:

KSRTC is also having 28 Station Master (SM) Offices at Ambalapuzha, Ayoor, Eenchakkal, Ernakulam Jetty, Ettumanoor, Iritty, Kadakkal, Kaliyakkavila, Kuthiyathode, Malayilkeezh, Manjery, Mundakkayam, Nagarcoil, Ochira, Pattambi, Pothencode, Puthenkurishu, Tirur, Valanchery, Varkala, Vytila Hub and also have 3 staff training colleges in Trivandrum, Ernakulam and Edappal .

Workshops

The List of KSRTC Workshops are given below:

Facts

• The daily scheduled distance for bus services has increased from 12,00,000 km to 14,22,546 km.^[7]
• Nearly 5,373 buses run on 4,795 schedules every day.^[8]
• Average number of passengers transported in a day is 3145,000 (3.145 million)
• The average earnings per km (EPKM) works out to around ₹25.69 and the average earnings per bus (EPB) works out to ₹8,329..

Fares

Historical Fares

"Half a Chakram was the minimum fare in 1938. The first class tickets had cost 50% more than the coordinating rate. During that period free travel was allowed for children up to 3 years and only half the fare was charged for children until age 14. There were no luggage tickets, but when the luggage weighed more than 28 pounds up to 56 pounds, a fee was assessed for 4 chakras. Passengers with luggage that weighed more than 56 pounds were assessed a fee of 6 chakras up to 112 pounds and above. As the Chakram had triple the value of a 100 rupee currency note today, the cost of travelling was comparatively higher during those days".

Current Fares

The fares were last revised on 11 November 2012 .

• 64 paise for City/Ordinary Services,
• 68 paise for City Fast Services,
• 68 paise for Fast Passenger/Limited Stop FP Services,
• 72 paise for Super Fast Services,
• 77 paise for Super Express Services,
• 90 paise for Super Deluxe/Semi Sleeper Services,
• 110 paise for Luxury/High-Tech/Air Conditioned Services, and
• 130 paise for Volvo Services.^[9]

Note: w.e.f 1 March 2016, the minimum charge for Ordinary bus has been bought down to 6.00 INR, in order to benefit the common man, owing to the decrease in oil prices. Ordinary bus charges for all fare stages has been bought down by 1.00 INR.

Online booking

Bus reservation can be done online for KSRTC services and the NEW online booking facility is available at http://www.ksrtconline.com/KERALAOnline/

GPRS Enabled Ticket Machines

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation(KSRTC) has introduced GPRS-enabled ticketing machines which are connected to an online server through GPRS to streamline services in 2013. The ticket machines transfer real-time data to the control room at Transport Bhavan. The authorities can keep tabs on the collection of each schedule and that of depots across the state on real time basis by tracking the data from ticketing machines.

Gallery

• 
  KSRTC Scania Maharaja
• 
  Kerala RTC bus at Mysuru
• 
  Volvo AC Low floor
• 
  Volvo Low floor
• 
  Super Express
• 
  Super Fast
• 
  Rajadhani
• 
  Fast Passenger
• 
  Leyland Non AC Low floor
• 
  Double Decker
• 
  Venad/Malabar
• 
  Ordinary

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

• http://www.keralartc.com/
• http://www.ksrtcbustracking.in/
• http://www.ksrtconline.com
• http://bustimings.in/ksrtc/