The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned road transportation company in the state of Karnataka in India. KSRTC has the largest fleet of Volvo buses among state owned transport companies.

KSRTC was set up in 1961 under the provisions of Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. In August 1997, KSRTC was divided to form Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). In November 1997, another new road transport corporation called North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) was formed to cater to the transportation needs of North Western parts of Karnataka. Later, the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) was also formed with its corporate office in Gulbarga.

KSRTC services covers 92% villages in Karnataka.[4] KSRTC operates with a total fleet of 17310 buses (Ksrtc-8280,Nekrtc-4300,Nwkrtc-4720). It transports, on an average, 74.57 lakh passengers per day. It also operates to the neighboring states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa and Kerala. KSRTC was the first state transport corporation to introduce Volvo B7RLE low floor city buses in India in 2005. At present, KSRTC operates Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Scania buses under the Airavat services (named after the mythical white elephant).[3]

Types of Services

Flybus

Fully air conditioned nonstop luxury, Volvo multi axle bus service between Bengaluru International Airport and Mysuru & between Kempegowda International Airport and Kundapur with pantry, chemical toilets, live display of flight timings, GPS, wifi facilities and in-bus live entertainment.[5]

Airavat Bliss CD

Fully air conditioned luxury Volvo multi axle bus service with chemical toilets, wifi, pantry and individual TV screens.[6]

Airavat Superia

Fully air conditioned luxury Volvo multi axle bus service with chemical toilets, wifi and individual TV screens.

Airavat Diamond Class

Fully air conditioned luxury bus service operated using Scania multi-axle buses with hi-definition night vision cameras for recording inside the bus and fleet management system for performance monitoring in the bus.[7]

Airavat Club Class

Fully air conditioned luxury bus service operated using Volvo and Mercedes Benz multi-axle buses with semi-recliner seats and with calf support.[8]

Airavat

Fully air conditioned luxury bus service operated using Volvo and Mercedes Benz buses with semi-recliner seats.

Rajahamsa

Non air conditioned deluxe bus service with recliner seats in 2+2 configuration built on Tata and Ashok Leyland chassis.

Suhasa

Fully air suspension non AC reclinable seat bus, other than Raajahamsa which normally ply over north Karnataka regions.

Corona Ambari

Fully air conditioned sleeper bus service.

Corona Non AC Sleeper

Non air conditioned sleeper bus service.

Corona

Fully air conditioned and air suspension bus with 2+2 reclinable seats. Can consider it to be an alternate option for Airavat.

Sheethal

Fully air conditioned and air suspension vehicle with 3+2 non-reclinable seats built on Ashok Leyland chassis. Mostly operates between Mysuru and Bengaluru, but nowadays its replaced with Volvo Airavat.

Vaibhava

Non air conditioned sitter buses in white livery with recliner seats in 2+2 configuration.

Suvarna Sarige, Vayavya Karnataka Saarige and EEshanya Karnataka Saarige

Cheapest and widely abundant mode of bus service in KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC found in red-white or light green-white livery.

Grameena Sarige

Buses which connects villages with ordinary fare (slightly costs lesser than suvarna sarige).