State Transport Service

Responsibilities

The main responsibility of State Transport Service is to provide efficient and economic public transport service to the islanders of the Union Territory . The present strength of STS is 268 Buses with age profile varying between 0-10 years including few buses which are in the process of condemnation.

The Geographical Constraints

This UT has 572 Islands divided into 3 Districts and the STS operates its services in 12 Islands from 14 STS units spread over from Diglipur in North to Campbell Bay in south with a distance of about 750 KM between them. Difficult for both the citizens and officials of Transport Department to reach all these Islands in the event of necessity.

The Operational Constraints

Even for operating a single bus in smaller Islands, minimum 10 employees (3 BDs, 3 BCs, 3WS staff & 1 Checking-cum-supervisory staff) are required to be posted. No Possibility of outsourcing of works related to repair & maintenance in these Islands except Port Blair. Required to maintain minimum inventory in all the STS Units. Though the population is very less in some islands particularly in the Tribal District, it is the responsibility of the Administration to provide bus service on these non profitable routes. Hilly and undulated terrain, uneven roads and saline weather condition on these monsoon dominated islands invites more strain on the vehicle thereby increasing the frequency of repair compare to other parts of the country.