Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation
Encyclopedia
Road transport
Road transport or road transportation is transport on roads of passengers or goods. A hybrid of road transport and ship transport is the historic horse-drawn boat.-History:...
corporation in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
. It is acknowledged as the single corporation having the largest fleet in the world. This has been certified by the Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
for being the largest bus operator in the world.
History
APSRTC was established in 1932 as a unit of Nizam's State Railways - Road Transport Division. The initial fleet consisted of 27 buses and has been expanded since to about 20,972 buses as of 30 January 2009.Operations
The network connects cities, towns and villages in the state. Every town has a Bus DepotBus depot
Bus depot has the following meanings:*A bus station is a structure where buses pick up and drop off passengers. .*A bus garage is a place where buses are stored when out of service and worked on....
, which have administration to plan and oversee the operations. It operates in the cities of Hyderabad, karimnagar
Karimnagar
As of 2011 India census Estimation, Karimnagar city had a population of 2,99,660. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49% has an average literacy rate of 86.75%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 92.61%, and female literacy is 80.79%. In Karimnagar, 12% of...
, Vijayawada
Vijayawada
Vijayawada is the third largest city in Andhra Pradesh, India, located on the banks of the Krishna River and bounded by the Indrakiladri Hills on the West and the Budameru River on the North. The city is located in the Krishna District, about from the state capital Hyderabad.Vijayawada literally...
, Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...
, Warangal
Warangal
Warangal is a city and a municipal corporation in Warangal district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Warangal is located northeast of the state capital of Hyderabad and is the administrative headquarters of Warangal District. This district is a combination of three cities: Warangal,...
, Tirupathi, Anantapur
Anantapur
Anantapur is a city and a municipal corporation in Anantapur district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located south of state capital, Hyderabad and is the headquarters of the Anantapur District. Anantapur was headquarters of "Datta Mandalam" in 1799 and Sir Thomas Manro was the...
. It also operates to the neighboring states as per the agreement reached with the respective state bus corporations of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, Pondicherry, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, Chattisgarh and Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
.
APSRTC serves about 14 million passengers every day, equal to the number of passengers ferried by Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
.
Present size
- Number of buses (As on 21 November 2010) : 24000
- Number of Employees (As on 30.04.2009) : 99000
- Number of Depots : 210
- Number of Regions/Zones : 23/7
- Number of Bus Stations : 523
- Total Bus Stations : 523+242 = 765
- No. of Passengers Transported daily (March 2009) : 13.79 million
- Total Number of routes (Feb.'08) : 7,510
- Villages connected : 34,336
City Buses=
Initially the city buses very primarily called ordinary buses with green and dark green shades. They were supplemented with few doubledecker buses in the same colour scheme.But in the year 2003 the corporation has decided to withdraw doubledeckers because of the operational difficulties. The color scheme of the ordinary city buses has also been changed to white and orange gradually from the year 2002.
In the year 2004 a new kind of buses with darkblue and white colour scheme called the Metroliners were introduced in Hyderabad similar kind were introduced in Visakhapatnam under the name of CityLiners these were instant hit but the passengers had to pay higher for the services which had fewer stops.APSRTC then introduced Metro Express buses whose charges were in between that of the ordinary and the Metroliners. In the year 2002 when the National games were held in the city of Hyderabad the APSRTC complimented the Hyderabad's successful organization by providing a new Yellow coloured buses for transporting the participants/organizers between the venues and places of stay.These buses were named Veera which happened to be the games mascot for the 2002 National Games.Veera is based on Ongole Bull. Then came fewe AC buses called SeethalaHamsa's .But the city regions got a big boost with the coverage of Urban transportation under the JNNURM scheme in which the Union Government funds the purchase of buses to be used for improving urban transport. APSRTC has got more than 2000 buses sanctioned under this scheme.Out of these buses 1000 were sanctioned to Hyderabad city region in which 750 were Semi Low Floor(SLF, Ashok Leyland and TATA motors make), 200 Low Floor buses(TATA Marcopolo) and 50 AC Low Floor buses(8 Volvo and remaining Tata Marcopolo).From 2009 end the JNNURM Metro Expresses with a distinct blue and white colour scheme having LED electronic display boards are prominently seen on the roads of twin cities.. It has also introduced CNG buses in some cities viz. Vijayawada and will soon introduce in other major cities and towns.
District Services
Apart from the city services there are different services operated by the APSRTCCurrent Services
Unlike the past there is less standardization in the body structure or the colour scheme of a particular kind of Buses even leading to confusion among the passengers in identifying them.Different type of intercity, district, and village services are:
PalleVelugu: Can be considered the new avtar of the old Red Bus. The colour scheme is predominantly Dark Green over White.Usually connects the villages to nearby towns.
Express: Similar to the Express service before but in new White and Sky Blue Stripes.
Deluxe:Previously known Luxury buses have been named as Deluxe.Can be seen in different colour patterns but mostly in Purple and white combination.
Super Luxury: Most popular Non AC service between towns and cities and vice versa.Usually in a single predominant colour with black windows. The color is usually Pink,light Green,Blue,Orange.
Meghdoot: AC coaches in White and Red colour scheme.
Garuda: When the Swedish Auto major Volvo entered the South Indian Market with its B7R (Volvo 9400) buses APSRTC was among the few operators who have brought the Volvo B7R buses.They have named the bus Services as Garuda. These buses very fast,comfortable and safe.People have patronized these services even at a higher ticket costs.APSRTC is operating Garudas between major cities in the state and to cities in the neighbouring states like Bangalore, Mumbai.Now the enhanced version B9R,Multiaxle with more seating capacity is to come with advanced features.
Along with Volvo,APSRTC also operates with Cerita,ISUZU and Marcopolo coaches in specific zones.
Sapthagiri: These buses in Blue and White colours are seen in the holy towns of Tirupathi and Tirumala for the benefit of piligrims visiting the Lord Venkateshwara Swami temple in Tirumala. Majority of buses ply between Tirupathi and Tirumala and are Ghat eligible. There are few services which connect the Tirumala directly with Chennai,Bangalore,Chitoor etc.
Indra: These are low fare inter-district and inter-state bus service.But not yet in running as on dtae 13-4-2011.
Popular services in the Past
1.Ordinary: The all ubiquitous Red bus or affectionately called the Erra bus,Erra for Red in Telugu connects the villages to the near towns.Usually has 52 seats with 3+2 seating arrangement. The red bus has been a part of life of the rural people.The bus connectivity of a village is considered an indication of village progress. Erra bus has the lowest fare among all the types of services.The buses also help in transporting local products like milk and vegetables from villages to the neighbouring towns. APSRTC also gives bus passes at the subsidized rates for students and other categories of people as a social responsibility. From 2006-07 Red color Ordinary bus has been slowly replaced with other color schemes leading to the demise of the people's favorite bus.2.Express: Usually operated as a service between the towns and also for connecting the towns with the cities.Initially the colour scheme was Creamish Yellow and Brown,Then changed to white and Greyish Blue and now White and Sky Blue.These buses have a better 3+2 seating arrangement the seats supporting head.
3.Semi Luxury: Initially in the attractive Light Green and Yellow horizontal long stripes over White colour scheme had reasonably 2+2 seats.Usually operated on longer routes than Expresses.After 1995 there have been several changes to the color schemes and the body structures and were called Luxury buses.From 2007 onwards they are called Deluxes.
4.Super Deluxe: Was the top category bus in the APSRTC service range before 1994. It was in popular Yellow,Red,Black horizontal stripes with Brown Border over White Colour.Had 2+2 pushback leather kind of seats.Were considered premium service, had advanced reservations for travel. Each town depot usually had one or two services which were usually connecting Hyderabad.The color scheme was changed to Blue and White for a couple of years before the Super Deluxes were removed from services.
5.HiTech: After the Super Deluxe, the Hitechs formed the Premium service. From 1995 there have been Hitechs of different shapes and colours. Hitechs of late did not have a particular colour and were in different colours. They are eventually named Super Luxury from 2007.
6.Other Buses: APSRTC did had a few AC services. Few buses were modified to have Air Conditioning to connect major cities . In the year 1994 a dedicated AC climatizer buses under the name Vihamgam were introduced,they were few and connected the major cities in the State apart from Bangalore.Another service called Mayuri was a sleeper service operated on few routes most notably between Hyderabad and Shiridi.There were few other buses like the predominantly sky blue colour ordinary called Gramini for connecting small villages and there is a special kind of ordinary for carrying vegetables to the nearby Rythu Bazars. But these services were short lived.
Registration Number
Before the last Nizam Sir Osman Ali Khan bahadur handed over the APSRTC to Indian Govt. he made an agreement that every bus number should include letter Z , Z stands for Zahra Begum Nawab Mir Osman Ali khan Niza VII mother.Hence the APSRTC owned vehicles exclusively include letter "Z" in registration number with a unique series viz. the late 1980s include AAZ, AEZ, AP9Z, AP10Z, AP11Z, AP28Z, AP29Z etc. It started leasing from private bus operators and buses owned by such operators do not have the Z in their registration numbers.
Awards
- Guinness Book of World Records on 31 October 1999, with 18,397 buses making it the largest bus fleet in the world.
- Road Safety award' by United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
based 'Chartered Institute of Transport'
- 'Productivity and Fuel Efficiency Award' from Government of IndiaGovernment of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
has been given to APSRTC for many consecutive years
External links
- APSRTC Official Website
- Profile. APSRTC. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
- APSRTC online agent list
- Chairman's Profile on an Indian Government Website http://jwst.ap.nic.in/apla/check_before_release/mem_254.pdf