Nepal Transport Service was the first Nepalese public bus line. The company was based in the capital Kathmandu and operated from 1959 to 1966. Its head office was located at 122 Asan

Asan

Asan is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It is located at , bordering the Seoul Metropolitan Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 250,000.Asan is known for its hot springs and is a city of spas....

 Tyouda Tol, Kathmandu.

History

Nepal Transport Service started as a trucking company in March 1959 hauling cargo between Kathmandu and the railhead of Amlekhganj

Amlekhganj

Amlekhganj is a town and Village Development Committee in Bara District in the Narayani Zone of south-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 4,006 persons living in 742 individual households.-External links:*...

, 190 kilometers to the south near the Indian border over Tribhuvan Highway

Tribhuvan Highway

The Tribhuvan Highway connects the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, with Birganj/ Raxaul on the Nepal-India border. NH 28 and NH 28A links Raxaul with Lucknow/ Barauni and other locations in India.-History:...

. It is the country's first highway which opened to jeep traffic in 1956 and was subsequently improved to handle larger vehicles.

Intercity service

In July 1959, Nepal Transport Service began a daily intercity bus service between Kathmandu and Amlekhganj over the serpentine mountain highway. The route started at Sundhara near Dharahara

Dharahara

Dharahara , also called Bhimsen Tower, is a nine story tall tower at the center of Kathmandu sundhara. It was built in 1832 by the Prime Minister of the time, Bhimsen Thapa of Nepal. Thapa built the tower under the orders of Queen Lalit Tripura Sundari.The tower has a spiral staircase inside...

 tower and exited the Kathmandu Valley at Thankot

Thankot

Image:sunset.jpg|Caption1Image:kill.jpg|Caption2Thankot is a large village lies in the west of Kathmandu District in the Bagmati Zone in central america. It lies in the bed of 'Chandragiri hill'. According to the 1980 Nepal census it has a population of 5,755 and has 1,075 households...

 and then climbed over the Mahabharat Range and Sivalik Hills before descending to Hetauda

Hetauda

Hetauda is a town in the Makwanpur District of the Narayani Zone in southern Nepal. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Makwanpur district. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 53,836 people living in 10,420 individual households...

 and Amlekhganj. Here, bus passengers transferred to train for their onward journey.

Urban transportation

In September 1959, Nepal Transport Service started a local bus service between Kathmandu and Patan (Lalitpur

Patan, Nepal

Patan , officially Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, is one of the major cities of Nepal. It is one of the sub-metropolitan cities of Nepal located in the south-western part of Kathmandu valley. Patan is also known as Manigal. It is best known for its rich cultural heritage, particularly its...

), one of the three cities in the Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu Valley

The Kathmandu Valley , located in Nepal, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several places of pilgrimage for the Hindus and the Buddhists. There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites within this valley.-Etymology:The city of...

, marking the beginning of urban transportation in Nepal. The bus stop in Kathmandu was located at the northwestern corner of Rani Pokhari. In Patan, the bus made stops at Mangal Bazaar, Lagankhel and Jawalakhel

Jawalakhel

Jawalakhel is a town in Lalitpur District in Nepal. It is only 2 KM away from the ancient city of Patan. The town is famous for the annual Rato Machhendranath Festival which ends with Bhoto Jatra that takes place in the famous square at the heart of the town. The town also has the only Zoo in...

 before returning to Kathmandu. The route was later shortened to Patan Dhoka, or Patan Gate, on the edge of the city. In addition to its main Kathmandu-Patan service, Nepal Transport Service operated on various short-lived routes in the Kathmandu Valley.

Long distance

• Kathmandu-Amlekhganj (bus and truck service)
• Kathmandu-Trishuli (truck service, April 1962)

Local

• Rani Pokhari-Patan Dhoka (1959-1966)
• Lainchaur-Jawalakhel (August-September 1962)
• Rani Pokhari-Gaushala (July 1963-July 1964)
• Rani Pokhari-Balaju (August 1963-May 1964)
• Rani Pokhari-Maharajgunj (April-May 1964)

Fleet and livery

At its height, Nepal Transport Service owned a fleet of 11 buses and two trucks.

• 5 Tata
  Tata
  - Companies :* Tata Group, India's largest business group and multinational company** List of entities associated with Tata Group- People :* Tata family, an influential family of India owning the Tata Group** Jamsetji Tata, known as the father of Indian industry...
  
   Mercedes-Benz
  Mercedes-Benz
  Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
  
   LP 312/36 buses manufactured by TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company of India.
• 4 Bedford
  Bedford Vehicles
  Bedford Vehicles, usually shortened to just Bedford, was a subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors, itself the British subsidiary of General Motors , established in 1930; and constructing commercial vehicles. Bedford Vehicles was a leading international truck manufacturer, with substantial export sales of...
  
   SB4 buses manufactured by Hindustan Motors
  Hindustan Motors
  Hindustan Motors is an automobile manufacturer from India. It is part of the Birla Technical Services industrial group. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog....
  
   of India.
• 2 Chevrolet
  Chevrolet
  Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
  
   Viking buses manufactured by Hindustan Motors of India.
• 2 Tata Mercedes-Benz trucks.

The buses of Nepal Transport Service were painted a dark blue with the company name written in Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

 on one side and English on the other on a white band below the windows.

Dissolution

Nepal Transport Service went out of business in 1966, no longer able to sustain the losses resulting from frequent downtime. Major maintenance had to be done in India, and unavailability of spare parts locally for its diverse fleet meant its buses were out of commission for extended periods.

The founders

Nepal Transport Service was founded by proprietor Karuna Ratna Tuladhar

Karuna Ratna Tuladhar

Karuna Ratna Tuladhar was a pioneer of Nepalese public transport. He was proprietor of Nepal Transport Service which he and his brother Lupau Ratna founded in 1959...

 (1920-2008) and Lupau Ratna Tuladhar (1918-1993) of Kathmandu. The brothers were former merchants who operated an ancestral business house in Lhasa

Lhasa

Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...

, Tibet and Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, India which remained in operation till 1964.