The Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) is the government transport corporation in the union territory of

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

that provides services in all the four regions of Puducherry, namely

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

Karaikal Karaikal ( /kʌdɛkʌl/, french: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Karaikal was sold to the French by the Rajah of Thanjavur and became a French Colony in 1739. The French held control, with occasi ...

, Mahé and

Yanam Yanam (Telugu: ''యానాం'') is a town located in the Yanam district in Puducherry. It has a population of 35,000 and is entirely surrounded by Andhra Pradesh. It was formerly a French colony for nearly 200 years, and, though united wi ...

History

Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation Limited (PTDC) was incorporated during February 1986 to promote tourism in the union territory of

. With the introduction of transport service from March 1988, the corporation was converted into Pondicherry Tourism and Transport Development Corporation Limited (PT&TDC) with effect from December 1992. The corporation operates inter-state buses on 55 routes throughout the territory, providing direct services to important tourist destinations in all the southern states of India. PT&TDC has paid up capital of about Rs.28.42 crores and was incurring substantial annual losses in the tourism sector. Hence, the corporation was bifurcated with effect from 1 April 2005 into the Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) and Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), in order to focus on diversification and expansion projects.

Fleets

PRTC operates over 139 buses in various Inter-state and Intra-City routes. It operates around 40

JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was a massive city-modernization scheme launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Urban Development. It envisaged a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years. ...

buses in all the 4 territories, viz:

, Mahe and

, with a majority of them operating in Puducherry. The fleet with PRTC is entirely from

Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, headquartered in Chennai. It is owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors and became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955. Ashok Leyland is the second-most ...

Routes

It operates various inter-state routes, connecting important cities of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tindivanam Tindivanam is a town and a municipality in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the second largest town in Villupuram District after the headquarters town Villupuram. Important roads from north to south (NH 45) Tamil Nad ...

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum) or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the headq ...

Kumily Kumily also spelt as Kumaly is a revenue village and Gram Panchayat in the Idukki district of Kerala. It is a town in Cardamom Hills near Thekkady and Periyar Tiger Reserve. Kumily is a gateway town into Kerala from Tamil Nadu. History The pr ...

Velankanni Velankanni (''Vēḷāṅkaṇṇi''), is a Special Grade Panchayat Town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, 350 km south of Chennai (Madras), 12 km south of ...

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

Mayiladuthurai Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a town and district headquarter of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located at a distance of from the state capital, Chennai. Mayiladuthurai was ruled by Mediev ...

Neyveli Neyveli is a industrial town in the Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located inland from the Bay of Bengal, west of Pondicherry and south of Chennai. The town was developed in 1956 after the establishment of Neyve ...

Chidambaram Chidambaram is a town and municipality in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the banks of the Vellar River where it meets the Bay of Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Chidambaram taluk. The town is believed to be of si ...

Viluppuram Viluppuram, Villupuram, or Vizhuppuram () is a Municipality and the administrative headquarters of Viluppuram district. Located south west of a Tiruvannamalai and north west of Cuddalore null The town serves as a major railway junction, ...

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarter ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

from its towns of

and

. It also operates to Mahe, Tirupathi,

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

from

, which till date, are its only services outside

. Off late, they have been adding more and more services in Mahe and

. As of now, they are operating 3 JnNURM town buses, each in Mahe and

Class of services

PRTC is now running the following types of buses, connecting different places in its 4 regions as well as to the neighboring states. * City Ordinary - ''2*2 City bus and 3*2 City bus'' * City Semi Low Floor - ''2*2 JnNURM bus'' * Express - ''3*2 Mofussil Bus'' * Deluxe - ''2*2 Non-Push Back'' * Ultra Deluxe - ''2*2 Push Back'' *Volvo buses - 2*2 PDYCHN & PDYCUD

Future plans and expansion

PRTC has received a fresh batch of 25 buses from

JnNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was a massive city-modernization scheme launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Urban Development. It envisaged a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years. ...

for the city operations. Around 25 Semi-Low-Floor buses are being operated to destinations in and around the

. It received another fresh batch of 14 new Semi-Low- Floor buses and they were inaugurated in the month of January, 3 out of which are running in Karaikal and Mahe, 2 in Yanam and the rest doing its service in Puducherry Urban Area in new routes. There is also a proposal to replace all the inter-state buses. All of them have done more than 10 lakh km and are very old. Very recently PRTC has added 4 Ultra Delux buses of Prakash P8000 Model on the

– Mahé and Pondicherry–

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

routes. Another 3 Ultra Delux buses are expected to be added to the fleet soon. They also have replaced 30 of their age old inter-city bus fleet with new buses built by TVR Coach on

platform and they also have procured 200 electronic ticket vending machines enabled with

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

and

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...

as a part of preventing revenue leakage. Very recently they have invited tenders for procurement of 50 buses under JnNURM - II. They include 20 Standard Non-AC buses, 20 Mini Non-AC buses. They are expected to hit the road sometime in 2014 and are to be deployed in new local routes.

Volvo Buses

PRTC also operates 2 Volvo AC buses to two different locations. They were procured in 2006–2007, but in the year 2010–11 they were withdrawn due to an accident and a court order to halt the service between Puducherry (city) and Bengaluru. Now, due to the efforts of the new general manager and the managing director, the buses have been sent to the Volvo factory and have been re-furbished with a complete FC. Both the buses have been delivered back to PRTC and has started its service in

–

route. 10 new Volvo buses to ply in Puducherry and to Chennai .A fleet of brand new Volvo buses rolled out to enhance the travel experience of the commuters on Friday 2-07-2014 Chief Minister N. Rangasamy flagged off the 10 swanky, air-conditioned buses of the Puducherry Road Transport (PRTC) Corporation Limited here.

References

{{State owned road transport companies in India Bus companies of India State road transport corporations of India Companies based in Puducherry Transport in Puducherry Transport companies established in 1988 Government agencies established in 1988 1988 establishments in Pondicherry