Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)KSRTC is a registered trademark 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 (South, Central and North), and its headquarters is in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Daily scheduled service has increased from to , using 5400 buses on 4500 routes.At present the corporation has 5400 buses running on 4500 schedules. http://www.keralartc.com/html/aboutus.html The corporation transports an average of 3.545 million commuters per day.
The Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC) was formed under KSRTC in 2015 to manage affairs related to urban transportation. It was inaugurated on 12 April 2015 at Thevara. On 9 November 2021, a legally independent company called KSRTC SWIFT was formed to operate the long-distance buses of the Kerala Road Transport Corporation for a period of 10 years with an aim overcome the financial crisis faced by the corporation.
In June 2021, Kerala SRTC was awarded the acronym KSRTC by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trade Marks, which is part of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India when Kerala (officially known as Keralam) filed a case against Karnataka SRTC in response to a legal notice by the Karnataka SRTC to stop using the acronym KSRTC.
History
Travancore State Transport Department The corporation's history dates back to years before the formation of Kerala state, which makes it one of the oldest state-operated public road transport services in India. The Travancore government, headed by King Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, decided to establish the Travancore State Transport Department (TSTD) the predecessor of KSRTC, to improve the existing public-transport system.
Initially, the department imported 60 Commer PNF3 chassis from England. Under the supervision of E.G Salter, the then Assistant Operating Superintendent of London Passenger Transport Board, the imported chassis 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 (supervised by Salter) 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 Thiruvananthapuram-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 (with his family, Col. Goda Varma Raja, and other dignitaries) 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 Thiruvananthapuram 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: Thiruvananthapuram-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 Kochi in 1949, and to the Malabar region in 1956.
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) 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 Thiruvananthapuram 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-run transport corporation 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 Thiruvananthapuram, 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.
The Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC) was formed under KSRTC in 2015 to manage affairs related to urban transportation. It was inaugurated on 12 April 2015 at Thevara.
On 2 June 2021, the rights to use the acronym KSRTC, logo and the name 'AanaVandi' were fully given to Kerala State Road Transport Corporation according to the trademarks act 1999, after a seven-year battle with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, who issued a notice in 2014, stating that Kerala should stop using KSRTC. After the long drawn-out battle over intellectual property rights, the Kerala Road Transport Corporation has got the legal right to its trademarks acronym 'KSRTC' associated with the state-run transport corporation. Trade Marks registry certified that the emblem, the abbreviation KSRTC, logo and the name Aanavandi shall belong to Kerala Road Transport corporation. Kerala's claim was approved on 3 June 2021 by the Controller General of Patents Design and Trade Marks under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The registration made Kerala RTC the lone custodian of the trademarks.
On 21 June 2021, KSRTC launched its first LNG bus service from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi for regular passengers. The first commercial LNG bus service had been launched exclusively for Petronet employees in Kochi earlier.
On 9 November 2021, KSRTC-SWIFT was formed as an independent company to operate the long-distance buses of KSRTC efficiently for a period of 10 years.
Organizational Structure The management of the KSRTC is overseen by a Board of Directors, which includes the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) and other directors appointed by the Government of Kerala. The CMD, serving as the organization's Chief Executive, is responsible for managing day-to-day operations.
Board of Directors + Board of Directors – KSRTC Name Designation C.P. John Minister for Transport, Government of Kerala P.B. Nooh, IAS Secretary to Government, Transport Department P.S. Pramoj Sanker, IOFS Chairman & Managing Director Ch. Nagaraju, IPS Director Nelson J Director K.S. Vijayasree Director Dr. Samson Mathew Director N. Jeevan Director
Fleet
As of 2026, the corporation has a fleet of more than 5500 buses consisting of buses from Volvo, Scania, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, BharatBenz and others. The vehicles owned by KSRTC are registered under a dedicated RTO at Thiruvananthapuram with a registration series KL-15.
Fleet numbering system Although KSRTC has a dedicated RTO (Regional Transport Officer) to register its fleet, all its buses have bonnet numbers (for internal identification) 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 - 1966R1966 - 1971A1973 - 1978N1979 - 1983S1983 - 1986P1986 - 1989TR1989 – 1993TA1993 – 1995TN1995 – 1997TS1997 – 2000TP2000 – 2004RT2004 – 2006RR2006 – 2008RA2008 – 2010RN2010 – 2012RS2012 – 2015RP2015 - 2016AT2016 -
The second part (E in the example) 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: Code WorkshopCCentral Workshop, Pappanamcode, ThiruvananthapuramMRegional Workshop, MavelikkaraARegional Workshop, AluvaERegional Workshop, EdappalKRegional 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. KSRTC Swift's buses are numbered in a KS series.
2025 Fleet Modernisation KSRTC inducted 143 new buses in 2025 as part of a major fleet modernisation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flagged off the vehicles at a function in Anayara on 21 August 2025. These buses were divided into nine categories:
Ordinary Link Bus Fast Passenger Super fast Premium AC Seater AC Seater cum Sleeper AC Sleeper AC Seater Multi axle AC Sleeper Multi axle
Details of New Buses