History
Early bus services in Maharashtra (then part of the states of Bombay, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad) were started in the early 1920s largely due to efforts of local entrepreneurs. With no regulatory laws governing public transportation services these services run in ad hoc manner. The Motor Vehicle Act of 1939 brought in amongst many other things, regulation of fares, standard routes and rules for governance and monitoring of public tranporation providers. As a result of the act individual operators were asked to form a union on defined routes in a particular area. Bus schedules were set in, pick-up points, conductors, and fixed ticket prices were mandated.
Still passenger woes continued and then in 1948 Bombay State Government, started its own state sponsored road transport service called State Transport of Bombay. The first blue and silver-topped bus took off from Pune to Ahmednagar in 1948. In mean time, in 1950 the central government under the initiative of Morarji Desai the then home minister passed the Road Transport Corporation Act. This act delegated powers to states to form their individual road transport corporations, the central government would contribute up to a third of the establishment of such services. The Bombay State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) was formed following this, later on whose name was changed to Maharastra State Road Transport Corporation after the re-organization of the states.
Read more about this topic: Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation
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