Since independence, most state governments have nationalized the bus transport system either completely or partially. Taking all States together, nationalized bus services now account for about 40 per cent. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) standing today by milestone of 50 years, its position of strength speaks for itself-16,000-odd buses, 12,000 employees, about 70 lakh citizens utilizing the services daily. The physical and operating efficiency of the State Road Transport Undertakings [SRTUs] as a whiole is low. The major causes of these losses are gross inefficiency, extensive pilferage of stores, poor maintenance of buses, absence of a cost-based fare structure and lack of timely adjustment of fares in response to changes in input prices, operation of uneconomic routes for social reasons, etc.
Tltere is a strong public feeling that states governments by and large are unfit to run bus service efficiently and should hand them over to private operators. The paper tries to rank the depots of Kolhapur division of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation on the basis of nineteen [19] performance variables. Tlie author uses Morris, M. D. and User, P. B., (1977) procedure for construction and use of performance index in the paper. Tlie study brings out in quantitative terms certain interesting aspects of performance of the depots and calls for a deliberate policy action and initiatives to reduce performance variation in the Kolhapur division.