Shivshahi Bus Services: No Plans To Discontinue AC Services, Says MSRTC

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) confirmed on Monday that there are no plans to discontinue the air-conditioned 'Shivshahi' bus service. This statement came after a Shivshahi bus was involved in a fatal accident in Gondia district last week, which claimed the lives of 11 passengers, including a woman police constable. An MSRTC spokesperson clarified that there are currently 792 Shivshahi buses in operation, all of which do not have any technical issues.

A senior MSRTC official told PTI that while there are no plans to discontinue the Shivshahi buses, the state-run corporation is considering converting some of them into non-AC semi-luxury buses. This decision comes in light of past incidents where several Shivshahi buses were involved in accidents, and some were destroyed in fire-related incidents.

The Shivshahi service was launched on June 10, 2017, with the first bus operating on the Mumbai-Ratnagiri route. By the end of the year, the corporation had added 500 self-owned and 580 hired Shivshahi buses to its fleet. MSRTC, one of the largest transport corporations in the country, operates a fleet of 15,000 buses and serves over 55 lakh passengers daily.