Himachal Road Transport Corporation
| Slogan | safe service, courteous service |
|---|---|
| Parent | Ministry of Transportation, Government of Himachal Pradesh |
| Founded | 1958 as Mandi-Kullu Road Transport Corporation |
| Headquarters | HRTC Head Office, Shimla-171003,[1] Himachal Pradesh, India |
| Locale | Himachal Pradesh |
| Service area | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh |
| Service type | Bus service |
| Routes | 2400[2] |
| Depots | 27 |
| Fleet | 2100 |
| Fuel type | Diesel |
| Website | Corporate Website |
Himachal Road Transport Corporation, also referred to as HRTC, is the state run bus service of Himachal Pradesh, India. HRTC with its 2100 buses serves routes to towns and cities within Himachal Pradesh and adjoining states of Uttrakhand, Chandigarh, Punjab, and Delhi. HRTC is one of the first RTC's in India to offer a facility for online booking of tickets for all types of buses.
History
The corporation was jointly founded by the Government of Punjab, Government of Himachal Pradesh and Railways as Mandi-Kullu Road Transport Corporation in 1958 to operate in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The corporation was merged with Himachal Govt. Transport on 2 November 1974 and was renamed as Himachal Road Transport Corporation.[3]
Supporting infrastructure
HRTC has its corporate office at Shimla and four divisional offices at Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Dharamsala, each having integrated workshop. It has 27 depots each with a regional workshop. HRTC also owns 3 bus body building units along with 3 tyre pre-cure re-treading plants at Mandi, Parwanoo and Jassur. HRTC routinely upgrades driving skills of its staff and train new drivers at its Driver Training Institutes located at Jassur, Mandi, Taradevi, Hamirpur, Chamba, Sarkaghat and Kullu.[4]
Operating Conditions
Other than regular services connecting Himachal to Chandigarh, Delhi and Haridwar; HRTC operates buses on some of the highest motorable roads in the world. These routes include Leh-Delhi, Shimla-Kaza, Kullu-Kaza, Manali-Killar and others. The Leh-Delhi routes operated by HRTC is 1203 km long and is the longest route by any RTC in India with a travel time of approx. 35 hours. The roads to Kaza are also termed as the world's most treacherous roads.
Fleet
HRTC categorize its buses into 6 categories as HIMSUTA- Volvo buses, HIMGAURAV- Isuzu and Deluxe AC buses, HIMMANI- Deluxe (Non-AC) buses, Semi-Deluxe, Ordinary and mini/local city buses that ply in association with JnNURM to fulfill urban transportation needs. Current bus is-to staff ratio is 4.37[5]
HIMSUTA (HRTC Volvo)
HRTC was the first operator in North India to start Volvo services on Shimla-Delhi and Manali-Delhi routes in 2005 on trial basis. The total Volvo fleet currently stands at 58 buses with daily buses running from Delhi to Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala, Joginder nagar, Baijnath, Hamirpur, Nalagarh, Chintpurni, Jawala ji and Paonta sahib. HRTC's 'Himsuta' bus fleet include the Volvo 9400 model made on B7R chassis. The 12 meter buses have ten rows of luxury semi-sleeper seats and charging ports. Additional facilities include free Wifi, entertainment on board and water bottles. The buses are also equipped with CCTV camera's for passenger security.
HIMGAURAV (Air-conditioned Deluxe buses)
HRTC operates air-conditioned Deluxe buses with 2X2 seating configuration on all important routes including Delhi-Shimla, Delhi-Manali, Delhi-Dharamshala and others. The buses also run on a few intrastate routes including Manali-Shimla. Besides the 11.4 meter luxury Isuzu buses, this class also includes buses built by JCBL and Amar on 210", 243" and 222" WB chassis by TATA or Ashok Leyland. The buses are provided with 35 comfortable and luxurious passenger seats with pushback.
JnNURM (City buses)
The bus are purchased from TATA and Ashok-leyland. The buses are provided with 2X2 passenger seats. The buses are fitted with digital destination boards. The buses are also fitted with air Brakes and power steering.