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M.S.R.T.C. Buses |
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| Total Buses |
15500 |
| Simple Buses |
14022 |
| City Buses |
651 |
| Semi Comfortable |
544 |
| Mini Buses |
199 |
| Deluxe Buses |
48 |
| Air Conditioned |
26 |
| Midi |
10 |
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M.S.R.T.C. Offices |
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| Central Office |
1 |
| Regional Offices |
6 |
| Central Workshops |
3 |
| Central Education Centre |
1 |
| Printing Press |
1 |
| Vibhagiya Karyalaya |
30 |
| Agaare |
247 |
| Bus Stops |
570 |
| Margastha Nivare |
4000 |
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| MSRTC - History |
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The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation is established by State Government of Maharashtra as per the provision in Section 3 of RTC Act 1950.
The M.S.R.T.Corporation is operating it's services by the approved scheme of Road Transport Published vide Notification MVA 3173/30303-XIIA dated 29.11.1973 in the official gazette.
The area covered by the scheme is 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 exception published in the scheme.
The Present Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation(M.S.R.T.C.) represents the confluence of three streams for providing passenger road transport in the public sector. These related to the Pre-1956 Reorganization states of Bombay, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad. However, in chronological sequence, the place of pride for providing public road transport services goes to the Hyderabad state.
First bus having been flagged off from the Pune
to Ahmednagar in 1948.
It's a story that had a hesitant beginning, with
many people then not giving the State Transport
(ST) bus service more than a couple of years of
existence. Standing today by this milestone of
58 years, its position of strength speaks for
itself - 16,000-odd buses, 12,000 employees,
about 70 lakh citizens utilizing the service
daily.
Tracing the history that saw this development,
we go back to the 1920s, when various
entrepreneurs started their operations in the
public transport scenario. Till the Motor
Vehicle Act came into being in 1939, there were
no regulations monitoring their activities, and
this resulted in arbitrary competition,
unregulated fares.
The implementation of the act rectified matters
to an 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, pick-up
points, conductors, and fixed ticket prices.
Thus continued 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 the first blue and
silver-topped bus took off from Pune to
Ahmednagar.
The driver and conductor used to wear khaki
uniforms and peak caps. There were 10 makes of
buses in use then - Chevrolet, Fort, 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-Mahableshwar route. They had
two by two seats, curtains, interior decoration,
a clock and green tinted glasses.
In 1950, a Road Transport Corporation Act was passed by
the Central Government and it 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.
The ST started with 30 Bedford buses having wooden
bodies, coir seats and the fare charged on the
Pune-Nagar route was nine paisa. Having seen the
ST undergo many changes, lists them off as-
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 1956; the overnight service about a decade
later and the semi-luxury class came into being
during the Asian Games in 1982.
Significantly, the ST does not only carry people but
also takes care of the postal mail, distribution
of medicines, newspapers and even tiffins to
children studying in the bigger towns. In rural
areas, it aids farmers to transport their goods
to the cities. All this in the face of bad
roads, recurring losses, hiked taxes and yet it
retains its identity of a transport service for
everybody.
No matter what, the ST reaches every village that
is connected by road, however bad it may be,
truly living up to its motto of `jithe rasta,
tithe ST' (where there's a road, there's a ST
bus)! |
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