Private company

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation

Logo: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

Transport corporation of Karnataka

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned public road transport corporation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. It serves routes within Karnataka and connects the state to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union territory of Puducherry.² It is headquartered in Bengaluru.¹ Its revenue was ₹16.4 billion in 2009.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1961Founded¹

Industrypublic transport bus service¹
HeadquartersBengaluru¹
Websitewww.ksrtc.in

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The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned public road transport corporation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. It serves routes within Karnataka and connects the state to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union territory of Puducherry. According to the corporation, it operates a fleet of 8,891 vehicles, including 48 electric buses, and carries about 35.56 lakh passengers per day.²

The story

History

Foundation

Mysore Government Road Transport Department was inaugurated on 12 September 1948 with 120 buses. The transport department of The Mysore state administered it until 1961.

Corporatization

It was subsequently converted into an independent corporation under Section 3 of the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950 on 1 August 1961, In 1961, after successfully converting into an independent corporation all assets and liabilities of MGRTD were transferred to Mysore State Road Transport Corporation.

Merger

On 1 October 1961, Bangalore Transport Service was merged with it.

Renaming

On 1 November 1973, the Mysore state was renamed as Karnataka, thus Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation.

Bifurcation

On 15 August 1997, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation was bifurcated to cater to the transportation needs of Bangalore Metropolitan Region. It was formed by separating the Bangalore Transport Service.

On 1 November 1997, North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation was bifurcated to cater to the transportation needs of Northwestern parts of Karnataka.

On 15 August 2000, Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (then North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation) was bifurcated to cater to the transportation needs of northeastern parts of Karnataka. This left the corporation to serve the southern part of Karnataka.

On 23 November 2009, Bijapur(Vijayapura) division was transferred from NWKRTC to KKRTC.

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On 1 January 2024, Mysore Division was split into Mysore City Transport and Mysore Rural divisions.

On 1 June 2026, the new Madhugiri Division began functioning.

Information technology

According to KSRTC, it was the first state transport undertaking in India to deploy electronic ticketing machines (from 15 August 2004) and to offer a web-based passenger seat reservation system (from 29 April 2006), branded AWATAR (Any Where Any Time Advance Reservation).

From Wikipedia’s article on Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Products and brands

Listed on Wikidata.¹

Destination

It serves routes to all 31 districts in Karnataka and as well as to towns and cities in the southern part of Karnataka and connects it to the rest of the state and the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union territory of Puducherry.

Fleet

As of 2026, KSRTC reported a fleet of 8,891 vehicles, including 48 electric buses, running 8,317 schedules and about 30.73 lakh effective kilometres per day. The corporation started operating electric buses under the "EV Power Plus" brand on a gross cost contract model from 16 January 2023.

For comparison, KSRTC's mechanical engineering department recorded a fleet of 8,199 vehicles on 18 June 2022: 3,885 Ashok Leyland, 2,499 Tata, 1,291 Eicher, 376 Volvo, 75 Scania, 48 Corona and 25 Mercedes-Benz.

'Shakti Scheme' Free Bus Service for women

'Shakti Scheme' was announced by the Second Siddaramaiah ministry on 2 June 2023. It started on 11 June 2023, providing free-of-charge bus service to Karnataka-domiciled women. Beneficiaries show their government-issued photo identity and address proof for the first three months. Bus conductors issue them zero-fare tickets. Thereafter, beneficiaries obtain Shakti smartcards (named after the name of the scheme) through an application submitted via the government's Seva Sindhu website Archived 2 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine.

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Terms and conditions of the scheme

The scheme will apply to all four Road Transport Corporations in the state (KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC).

Nagara Sarige, Gramantara Sarige, Karnataka Sarige, Ashwamedha Classic Class, Vayavya Nagara Sarige, Vayavya Gramantara Sarige, Vayavya Karnataka Sarige, Kalyana Nagara Sarige, Kalyana Gramantara Sarige, Kalyana Karnataka Sarige, Bengaluru Sarige, Samparka and Astra services will be part of the scheme.

Women can travel for free only on bus services within the state. Bus services to destinations outside Karnataka will be outside the scheme's purview even if women travel within the state. For example, a woman travelling to Mangaluru in Karnataka i.e., within the state on an Udupi-Kasaragod bus service which is an interstate service to Kasaragod in neighbouring Kerala, will have to buy a ticket.

The scheme will not apply to luxury buses (Rajahamsa Executive Class, Airavat Class, Airavat Club Class, Pallakki Class, Amoghavarsha Class, Ambaari Class, Ambaari Dream Class, Ambaari Utsav Class, Kalyana Ratha Class, Flybus, EV Power Plus+, Bengaluru Darshini, Vajra and Vayu Vajra services).

Half of the seats on KSRTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC's ordinary and express buses will be reserved for men. Luxury, AC and interstate buses as well as BMTC buses will be exempted from this.

The government will reimburse the RTCs based on the distance women travel.

Namma Cargo Logistics and Parcel Services

Namma Cargo Logistics and Parcel Services was launched on 26 February 2021. It provides cargo and parcel services on the routes in which The KSRTC (Karnataka), NWKRTC and KKRTC buses travel.