Passenger road transportservices in the state of U.P. started on 15th May, 1947 with theoperation of bus service on the Lucknow - Barabanki route by theerstwhile U.P. Government Roadways.

Subsequently, during thefourth Five Year Plan, the erstwhile UP Government Roadways wasrechristened as Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC)on 1-6-72 under the provisions of the Road Transport Act, 1950with the following objectives:

• For the development of the road transport sector correlated to which would be the overalldevelopment of trade & industry.
• For coordination of the roadtransport services with other modes of transport.
• For providing or causing theprovision of an adequate, economical & efficiently coordinatedroad transport service to the residents of the state.

At the time of establishmentof the Corporation it had a fleet of 4253 buses which wereoperating on 1123 routes. The corporation's earned kilometersoperated at that time were 228.8 million kilometers. While thetotal number of passengers carried by its buses totalled 251.3million.

By the end of the decade thefleet of the corporation had attained a strength of 5679 buses,the operations had increased to 1782 routes. As a result of thisincrease in operations, the earned kilometers totalled about395.3 million kilometers, while the total numbers of passengerscarried totalled over 449.1 million.

The end of the VI five yearplan saw a further increase in all operational parameters beingachieved by the corporation. With the increase in fleet strengthof 6198 buses, the earned kilometers of the corporation rose to425.7 million kilometers.

During the VII five yearplan emphasis was placed on strengthening the fleet of thecorporation. By the end of the plan period the fleet had risen to8161 buses from the initial strength of 6198. By 1989-90, theCorporation operated 2525 routes covering 648.6 millionkilometers and carrying 471.2 million passengers.

During the VIII five yearplan 2722 buses were replaced with new buses however 3142 buseswere auctioned and the fleet at the end of 1996-97 became 7463buses.

During the IX five year plan2427 buses were replaced and 3785 buses were auctioned, At theend of 2001-02 the Corporation had 6105 buses.

In the Xth five year plan5274 buses were inducted and 4818 buses were removed from fleet.At the end of 2006-07 the Corporation had 6561 buses apart from784 hired buses operated under its control.

In the XIth five yearplan 4518 buses were inducted and 4189 buses were removed from fleet. At the end of 2011-12 the Corporation had 6890 buses apart from 1763 hired buses operated under its control.

In the XIIth five yearplan 4866 buses were inducted and 2659 buses were removed from fleet. At the end of 2016-17 the Corporation had 9277 buses apart from 2400 hired buses operated under its control.

Infrastructure 

The corporate office of the corporation is situated at Lucknow. The Corporation has been reconstituted on 30.10.03 with the services in the state of Uttaranchal firming a separate corporation.

For efficient functioning the corporation has been divided into 20 regions of which 1 region operates urban & sub-urban services. Each region has a regional workshop where major repair and maintenance work as well as assembly reconditioning work is performed.

Each region has been further divided into operational units called depots. The total number of depots in the corporation is 115, including car-section. Each depot has a depot workshop attached to it to provide supportive maintenance facilities.

For heavy maintenance and repair of vehicles, reconditioning of major assemblies, renovation of buses and construction of bodies on new chassis, two Central workshops have been established in Kanpur: Central Workshop, Rawatpur and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Workshop, Allen Forest.

Eight tyre retreading plants are established at Agra, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Kanpur, Saharanpur, Allahabad, Moradabad and Etawah to provide in-house tyre retreading facilities.

For repairs and maintenance of staff cars belonging to the State Government and the Corporation, a separate unit named Car Section is established in Lucknow.

For imparting training to drivers and technical staff, a Training School is established in Kanpur.

The locational details of the various units of UPSRTC are available in the list of regions.