Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation

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Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation
Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation logo.png
Overview
OwnerGovernment of Maharashtra
LocaleMaharashtra
Transit typeIntercity Bus
City Bus
Daily ridership8.7 Million Daily
Key peopleChairman : Anil Parab (Transport Minister)
Managing Director : Shekhar Channe (IAS)
HeadquartersMumbai Central, Mumbai
Websitehttps://msrtc.maharashtra.gov.in/index.php
Operation
Began operation1948 as Bombay State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC)
1960 as Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation
Number of vehicles18,449

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation abbreviated as (MSRTC, or simply ST),[1] is the state run bus service of Maharashtra, India which serves routes to towns and cities within Maharashtra as well as to its adjoining states. It has a fleet strength of 18,449 buses. It also offers a facility for online booking of tickets for all buses.[2] Recently From 21st May 2020, the Corporation Started Goods Transportation, Private Bus Body Building, Private Vehicle Tyre Remoulding.[3] In Future Corporation will start Petrol Pump for Private Vehicles all over the Maharashtra.[4]

History[]

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation was established by the State Government of Maharashtra as per the provision in Section 3 of RTC Act 1950. The MSRTC operates its services by the approved scheme of road transport published vide Notification MVA 3173/30303-XIIA dated 29 November 1973 in the official gazette. The area covered by the scheme is the entire area of the state of Maharashtra. The undertaking is operating stage and contract carriage services in the entire area of the state of Maharashtra except S.T. undertaking defined under Section 68 A (b) of M. V. Act and other exceptions published in the scheme. The first bus was flagged off from Pune to Ahmednagar in 1948.[5][6]

Tracing the history that saw this development, we go back to the 1920s; when various entrepreneurs started operations in the public transport sector. Till the Motor Vehicle Act came into being in 1939, there were no regulations monitoring their activities which resulted in arbitrary competition and unregulated fares. The implementation of the Act rectified matters to some extent. The individual operators were asked to form a union on defined routes in a particular area. This also proved to be beneficial for travelers as some sort of schedule set in; with a time table, designated pick-up points, conductors, and fixed ticket prices. This was the state of affairs till 1948, when the then Bombay State Government, with the late Morarji Desai as the home minister, started its own state road transport service, called State Transport Bombay. And, with this, the first blue and silver-topped bus took off from Pune to Ahmednagar.[5][6]

There were 10 makes of buses in use then – Chevrolet, Ford, Bedford, Seddon, Studebaker, Morris Commercial, Albion, Leyland, Commer and Fiat. In the early 1950s, two luxury coaches were also introduced with Morris Commercial Chassis. These were called Neelkamal and Giriyarohini and used to ply on the Pune-Mahabaleshwar route. They had two by two seats, curtains, interior decoration, a clock, and green tinted windows.[5][6]

In 1950, a Road Transport Corporation Act was passed by the Central Government which delegated powers to states to form their individual road transport corporations with the Central Government contributing one-third of the capital. The Bombay State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) thus came into being, later changing its name to MSRTC with the re-organization of the state.[5][6]

The ST started with 30 Bedford buses having wooden bodies, coir seats. The fare charged on the Pune-Nagar route was nine paisa. With time, the S.T. buses underwent many changes, including increasing the seating capacity from the original 30 to 45 to the present 54, introduction of all-steel bodies to replace wooden bodies to make them stronger and cushion seats for more comfort. Later, in 1960, aluminium bodies were introduced as steel corrodes, especially in coastal areas, and the colour code also changed to red from the blue and silver. A partial night service was launched in 1968; the overnight service about a decade later and the semi-luxury class came into being during the Asian Games in 1982.[5][6]

The S.T. buses are also used for transportation of the postal mail, distribution of medicines, newspapers and even tiffins sent by people from rural areas to their relatives in cities. They also are used to transport agricultural goods to cities.[6]

Fleet[]

MSRTC is operating a fleet of approximately 18,449 buses that ferry 8.7 million passengers daily.[5]

MSRTC REVOLUTION

The Ordinary, Parivartan, Asiad and City Buses are built at MSRTC's in-house workshops at Pune city, Aurangabad, and Nagpur on Ashok Leyland and TATA chassis. These workshops produce as many as 20,000 buses per year on average. The corporation has nine tyre retreading plants along with 32 divisional workshops.[7] The Shivneri air conditioned bus service consists of Volvo 9400R and Scania Metrolink buses.[8] The Shivshahi buses are air-conditioned luxury buses which are operated by MSRTC and some private contractors.[9]

In 2018, MSRTC added approximately a 1,000 special non-AC Vithai buses, which were introduced to ferry passengers to the pilgrim town of Pandharpur in Solapur district. They have a seating capacity of 45 seats and a similar design to that of 'Parivartan' buses.[10]

In 2019,the MSRTC introduced new non-air conditioned buses with beds and recliner chairs specially designed for long overnight routes. Extra facilities like reading lamp, night lamp, charging point, fan and two huge storage compartments have also been provided.[11]

Gallery[]

  • ASHWAMEDH - AC RECLINER

  • ASHWAMEDH SCANIA -AC RECLINER

  • SHIVNERI - AC RECLINER

  • REGULAR PARIVARTAN BUS #LALPARI#

  • VITHAI BUS

  • SHIVAI ELECTRIC BUS

  • BHIMASHANKAR TOURISM BUS

  • SHITAL BUS

  • NEW MG BUSES

  • ROYAL SLEEPER+SEATER

  • SLEEPER+SEATER MG BUS

  • SHIVSHAHI - AC RECLINER

  • HIRKANI SEMI-LUXURIOUS

  • YASHWANTI BUS

  • ASIAD SEMI-LUXURIOUS

References[]

  1. ^ Sitaram, Mewati (29 December 2014). "Soon, computer-aided training for MSRTC drivers". Daily News and Analysis. Mumbai. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  2. ^ ":: MSRTC :: Online Reservation System". Public.msrtcors.com. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  3. ^ "The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation". msrtc.maharashtra.gov.in.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Maharashtra MSRTC to set up petrol pumps to increase earnings, overcome losses". Deccan Herald. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "History of MSRTC". msrtc.maharashtra.gov.in. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Ghumare, S V (2011). "1" (PDF). A critical study of organisation and management of Maharashtra State road transport corporation (1992 to 93 to 2002 to 03) (Thesis). Savitribai Phule Pune University. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  7. ^ "MSRTC Fleet". MSRTC. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  8. ^ "MSRTC's new fleet of luxury buses scheduled to hit city roads by Diwali". The Times of India. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  9. ^ Sengupta, Joy (17 December 2019). "Surprise checks of Shivshahi buses run by private contractors". The Times Of India. TNN. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  10. ^ "MSRTC adds Vithai buses to its fleet". The Times of India. 30 December 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  11. ^ Bhale, Rasika (20 November 2019). "MSRTC to operate 200 sleeper buses on 16 routes in State". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

External links[]

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