About

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (or KSRTC) is often fondly called as Aana Vandi (roughly translated as Elephant Vehicle). The name stuck on the corporation due to the presence of two elephants on its logo.

KSRTC was born on September 20, 1938. The corporation, then known as Travancore State Transport Department, was formed by the Travancore Government with a view to reorganise the state transport scene. The department was corporationised following the enactment of Road Transport Act in 1950. KSRTC, in its present form, was constituted by the government by a notification dated August 15, 1965.

At the time of creation, the Transport Department had all about 60 buses built on imported Comet Chassis fitted with Perkins Diesel engines. The department had grown to a fleet strength of 901 buses at the time of transfer to the corporation. Today, KSRTC operates over 5000 buses across the breadth of the state. In addition to operating within the state, KSRTC also provides services to the adjoining states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

KSRTC operates services fitting to every need – right from local bus services to long distance Airconditioned services. KSRTC was also among the first few state run transport companies to introduce Volvo buses in India. However, lack of government will ensured that KSRTC never took its premium services seriously.

KSRTC’s premium portfolio consists of Super Deluxe, AC Air Buses and Volvo Buses. Super Deluxe buses have a 2×2 seating layout, push back seats and air suspension at the rear. AC Air Buses have every thing that a Super Deluxe has, with the Air-Conditioning equipment as an addition. Volvo services, as the name suggests, uses Volvo B7R buses. KSRTC has about 42 super deluxe buses, about 25 AC Air Buses and about 3 Volvo buses as of today. KSRTC also operates Volvo City Buses in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam (under the JnNURM scheme).

Aanavandi Blog is an initiative to collate news articles appearing in various media, re-written with some additions. The blog would also make attempts to collect and disseminate schedules.