UP Transport Corp on an expansion course

The Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation has during the past three years made remarkable progress. Besides turning the loss-making corporation into a profit-making one, special attention has been given towards bettering services to the passengers.

The corporation is consistently trying to change the face of transport services by large-scale improvement in its quality so as to make them suit the expectations of its customers.

In this chain it has been decided to launch the Shadabdi and other AC bus service. A fleet of 22 such buses has been launched by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav at a function presided over by Transport Minister Naresh Agarwal in Lucknow today.

The AC buses can be categorised in three categories, namely Shatabdi, AC- sleeper and chair mixed and Sheetal.

Shatabdi possesses 2x2 push back, relaxing seats with air suspension along with the facilities of TV and VCD. The bus has an additional facility of mobile and laptop charger.

The number of seats varies from 39 to 43. To minimize the travel time, the stoppage points of these buses is also reduced.

260 buses are proposed to be operative in different parts of UP in the coming two months. This number is further divided into following categories: Shatabdi 60, AC-sleeper and chair car mixed 20 and Sheetal 180.

Sheetal, mainly designed to give comfortable yet cheap AC bus service to the travelers can be categorized into big and mini buses. Big buses having seating capacity of 49 to 54 seats while mini with 28 seats.

The construction work of sleeper and mini buses has been done at the corporation's Kanpur based workshop.

The main routes of the buses inaugurated today include Agra-Delhi-Agra, Lko.-Varanasi-Lko., Delhi-Dehradun-Delhi, Lko.-Gorakhpur-Lko., Etawah-Delhi-Etawah etc.

It is worth mentioning that there have not so far been AC buses in the private sector in the state. For the first time the UP Transport Corporation took it up and started working towards it in the year 2003.

Pawan and Pawan-gold bus service of the corporation in the city is already serving the passengers with its diversified facilities.

The corporation has also worked for the betterment and improvement of the bus stations at Gowardhan, Bijnaur, Fatehpur, Jagdishpur, Sitapur etc. Besides these places, bus stations of Hardoi, Muradabad, Varanasi and Lucknow will also be worked upon.

The corporation turned the tide by earning profits of Rs. 3.87crore in the year 2004-05 and of Rs. 19.27 crore in the year 2005-06.

The corporation is also going to introduce eco- friendly C.N.G city buses in Lucknow and Kanpur in near future.