Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Samochodowej (commonly abbreviated PKS, can be translated as ''Motor Transport Company'') is a major Polish

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

dealing with inter-city

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

using coaches.

History

It was created as a state enterprise in 1945 in post-war communist Poland as ''Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa'' (''State Motor Transport''). Until 1989 it had a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

on suburban and interurban bus transport in Poland. After the fall of communism, PKS was divided into 176 local operations. :pl:Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa In 1992 it was renamed to its current name. The local operations had different fates. Some were retained by the government, some were acquired by local authorities, some merged, some failed and others were acquired by outsiders such as

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Connex. In 2020 about 100 'PKS' companies were still in existence although not all were still involved in transport.

Incidents

PKS buses were involved in two major accidents in Poland. The first one occurred in 1978, when two buses fell 18 m from a bridge into the Żywiec Lake, killing 30 people. In the other accident, known as the Poland bus disaster of 1994, an overcrowded bus driving at 60 km/h (10 km/h over the speed limit) collided with a tree, killing 32 people. This remains the worst road disaster in Poland's history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panstwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa Public transport in Poland Transport operators of Poland Government-owned companies of Poland Transport companies established in 1945 1945 establishments in Poland