Kerala State Road Transport Corporation


Kerala State Road Transport Corporation is a state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the country's oldest state-run public bus transport services. The corporation is divided into three zones, and its headquarters is in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Daily scheduled service has increased from to, using 6,241 buses on 6,389 routes. The corporation transports an average of 3.145 million passengers per day.

History

Travancore State Transport Department

The corporation's history dates back to before the formation of Kerala, making it one of India's oldest state-operated public road transport services. The Travancore government, headed by King Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, decided to establish the Travancore State Transport Department to improve the existing public-transport system. A committee was formed, and it was decided that expert advice was needed. London Passenger Transport Board assistant operating superintendent E. G. Salter joined the committee on 20 September 1937, and began working on the project.
Initially, the department imported 60 Commer PNF3 chassis from England. Under Salter's supervision, they were fitted with Perkins Lynx diesel engines. The bus bodies were built by department staff, and Travancore Dewan C. P. Ramaswami Iyer insisted on using local wood. The body shop was originally in Chakai, and was later moved to Pappanamcode. Salter's experimental body design became standard on the rest of the buses.
Most of the private operators on the Trivandrum-Kanyakumari route had to close when the roads were nationalized, and many experienced drivers, conductors, and inspectors lost their jobs. TSTD recruited them, and Salter selected 60 people out of 81 applicants. Nearly one hundred applicants with bachelor's degrees were employed as inspectors and conductors.
The state road-transport service was inaugurated on 20 February 1938 by Maharaja Sree Chithira Thirunal, who rode the first bus on the Main Road to Kowdiar Square; Salter drove the bus. A fleet of 33 buses and a large crowd joined in the celebration. On 21 February 1938, the first bus operated from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari.
The early buses had 23 leather seats. Entry was through the rear, and the buses had a centre aisle. Ten first-class seats were in the front. Schedules, fares and stops were published, and a parcel service began in which goods could be delivered by designated agents. Conductors wore khaki with a white topi, and inspectors wore khaki. Conductors had machines to issue tickets. Later buses were manufactured by Dodge, Fargo, Bedford, and Chevrolet.
The TSTD operated on three routes: Trivandrum-Nagercoil, Nagercoil-Kanyakumari, and Nagercoil-Colachal. Regular service began on 21 February 1938 with 39 buses. The minimum fare for one mile was one-half chakram The next fare was one chakram, and first-class tickets were 50 percent more. Children under age three travelled free, and those between three and 14 paid half the fare. Luggage under was free; was four chakrams, and was six chakrams.
The Motor Vehicle Act was passed in 1939. Bus service was extended to Cochin in 1949, and to the Malabar region in 1956.

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was established by the Kerala government on 15 March 1965 after the Road Transport Corporation Act, which came into force in 1950. The Transport Department became an autonomous corporation on 1 April 1965.
At the time, there were 661 bus routes and 36 lorry routes. The corporation's fleet consisted of 901 buses, 51 lorries, and 29 other vehicles; thirty buses and eight lorries were new. Ten old buses, seven lorries, and one tractor-trailer were converted to other uses. The KLX registration series was reserved for the KSRTC. On 1 July 1989, KSRTC buses began registration at a dedicated RTO in Trivandrum with the KL-15 registration series.
In 2001 K. B. Ganesh Kumar became transport minister, and his brief tenure brought beneficial changes to the corporation. KSRTC was the first state to introduce Volvo buses into its fleet. Body work was outsourced, and the buses' contemporary design was publicized as high-tech. Kumar commissioned Sabu Cyril to redesign the bus livery. Low-entry, air suspension buses were introduced in Trivandrum, and minibus service began. The changes attracted passengers, making the corporation profitable.
The Kerala government issued a notification in 2012 suspending new permits for inter-district buses, exempting the KSRTC. Although it was assumed that the corporation would assume those routes, it created a shortage of service from Kochi to several northern districts. CPPR research and projects director Madhu Sivaraman conducted a study of KSRTC-private bus options.

Fleet

The corporation has a fleet of 6241 buses consisting Volvo, Scania, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Eicher Motors and minibuses. The vehicles owned by KSRTC is registered under a dedicated RTO at Thiruvananthapuram with a registration series KL-15.

Fleet numbering system

Although KSRTC has a dedicated RTO to register its fleet, all its buses have bonnet numbers adjacent to the depot mark at the front of the vehicle. RPE981, a typical fleet number, can be split into three parts: RP, E and 981. RP indicates the vehicle series, derived from the word transport; each series contains 1,000 vehicles. During the 1960s, KSRTC began assigning the serial number T to its buses; R followed the first 1,000 buses, followed by A and so on until the P series. Repetitive letters and the letter O were exempted. Later, two-letter combinations were used to identify bus series. The 1,000th bus in each series is numbered with a multiple of 1,000, indicating the total number of buses introduced by the corporation.
T1962 - 1966
R1966 - 1971
A1973 - 1978
N1979 - 1983
S1983 - 1986
P1986 - 1989
TR1989 – 1993
TA1993 – 1995
TN1995 – 1997
TS1997 – 2000
TP2000 – 2004
RT2004 – 2006
RR2006 – 2008
RA2008 – 2010
RN2010 – 2012
RS2012 – 2015
RP2015 - 2016
AT2016 -

The second part denotes the KSRTC workshop where the body work was done, and is absent on buses purchased fully built and outsourced bodywork. KSRTC owns five workshops: one central and four regional:
CodeWorkshop
CCentral Workshop, Pappanamcode, Thiruvananthapuram
MRegional Workshop, Mavelikkara
ARegional Workshop, Aluva
ERegional Workshop, Edappal
KRegional Workshop, Kozhikode

The third part is the vehicle number of the series. In addition to this system, a TE was assigned to 144 buses built in Edappal from 1997 to 2003. Their depot vehicles are numbered in a D series, and the oil tankers are numbered in a TT series. The corporation has several ambulances, numbered AV. Buses procured as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission are numbered JN.

Services

Discontinued services

Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation

In November 2014, Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation was formed to operate low-floor buses procured with financial assistance from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Zones

There were 5 KSRTC zones till 2018: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode. But it has been reduced to three in 2018.
NameDistrictsHeadquarters
SouthThiruvananthapuram, Kollam, PathanamthittaThiruvananthapuram
CentralAlappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, ThrissurKochi
NorthPalakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikkode, Wayanad, Kannur, KasargodKozhikode

The Thiruvananthapuram zone, which includes three districts, has more buses. The north zone has 945 buses, most long-distance.

Depots and workshops

KSRTC has 28 depots, 45 sub-depots, 19 operating centres, 28 stationmaster offices, five workshops and three staff-training colleges throughout the state. In 1995, the corporation established the Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering in Pappanamcode at its central workshop.
KSRTC has 28 station master offices in Ambalapuzha, Ayoor, Eenchakkal, Ernakulam Jetty, Ettumanoor, Iritty, Kadakkal, Kaliyakkavila, Kuthiyathode, Malayilkeezh, Mundakkayam, Nagarcoil, Ochira, Pattambi, Pothencode, Puthenkurishu, Tirur, Valanchery, Varkala, Vytila Hub, and staff-training colleges in Trivandrum, Ernakulam and Edappal.

Fares

KSRTC uses a fare-stage system to calculate fares.
Service classMinimum fareRate per km for travel above minimum fare
City/OrdinaryRs.870 paise
City FastRs.1075 paise
Fast Passenger/LSFPRs.1475 paise
Super Fast PassengerRs.3278 paise
Super ExpressRs.2285 paise
Super DeluxeRs.30100 paise
Luxury/Hi-tech and ACRs.44120 paise
Garuda Sanchari/Biaxle PremiumRs.45145 paise
Garuda Maharaja/ Garuda King Class/ Multi-axle PremiumRs.90145 paise
A/C Low FloorRs.20
Non A/C Low FloorRs.10

Passenger Support

24 Hour Passenger support system is available and the Contact number for the same is 0471 - 2463799 or 9447071021.
Passengers can also submit the suggestions and complaints through the official face book page of KSRTC.
Link for the same is
https://www.facebook.com/KeralaStateRoadTransportCorporation/?eid=ARDonaE5mmInSWeJzEAnVxsSILGNOh2dDTFKXr3KJvoEk6FjsLvURg8i236gkYNGEV1vEMgGDFiv-jve