AMBENALI GHAT : FULL JOURNEY : MSRTC SEMI LUXURY HIRKANI ST BUS CABIN RIDE

AMBENALI GHAT : FULL JOURNEY : MSRTC SEMI LUXURY HIRKANI ST BUS CABIN RIDE

Ambenali Ghat is a mountain road in Maharashtra, India cutting across the Northern Western Ghats or the Sahyadri mountain range. It connects the coastal Raigad District Konkan region of Maharashtra with the Satara District Desh region on the Deccan plateau. It is one of few link roads between the Konkan and Ghatmaatha in Maharashtra. The road, state highway 72, is at an average elevation of 625 m (2,051 ft). The ghat, or mountain road, is about 40 km long. Its characteristic feature is that it takes many turns without gaining/losing much height. It links the cities of Poladpur (Raigad district) and Mahabaleshwar (Satara district). It ends in Poladpur. The road ascends/descends around 1300m from Mahabaleshwar to Poladpur. It is the longest ghat in Maharashtra.This ghat travels through the Javali forest area. Many animals like leopards are seen here. This 40 km long ghat is known for its deadly road, where many accidents take place. It is very scenic and its picturesque landscape makes it an ideal location for tourists who flock around the ghat in crowds.
In the olden times the ghat road was protected by the Pratapgad, and Kamalgad forts. The famous battle between Afzal Khan (general) and Shivaji was fought at the base of the pratapgad fort. This ghat is dangerous and one must drive cautiously as many accidents have happened in this ghat. It starts near the Bombay point, descends 500 metres and goes near Pratapgad fort. It descends 500 meters from Pratapgad and enters the Konkan region near Payatewadi, meeting Mumbai-Goa road.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation abbreviated as (MSRTC, or simply ST), is the state run bus service of Maharashtra, India which serves routes to towns and cities within Maharashtra as well as to its adjoining states. It has a fleet strength of 21,449 buses. It also offers a facility for online booking of tickets for all buses. Recently From 21st May 2020, the Corporation Started Goods Transportation, Private Bus Body Building, Private Vehicle Tyre Remoulding. In Future Corporation will start Petrol Pump for Private Vehicles all over the Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation was established by the State Government of Maharashtra as per the provision in Section 3 of RTC Act 1950. The MSRTC operates its services by the approved scheme of road transport published vide Notification MVA 3173/30303-XIIA dated 29 November 1973 in the official gazette. The area covered by the scheme is the entire area of the state of Maharashtra. The undertaking is operating stage and contract carriage services in the entire area of the state of Maharashtra except S.T. undertaking defined under Section 68 A (b) of M. V. Act and other exceptions published in the scheme. The first bus was flagged off from Pune to Ahmednagar in 1948.
MSRTC is operating a fleet of approximately 21,449 buses that ferry 8.7 million passengers daily.
The Ordinary, Parivartan, Asiad and City Buses are built at MSRTC's in-house workshops at Dapodi, Aurangabad, and Nagpur on Ashok Leyland and TATA chassis. These workshops produce as many as 20,000 buses per year on average. The corporation has nine tyre retreading plants along with 32 divisional workshops. The Shivneri air conditioned bus service consists of Volvo 9400R and Scania Metrolink buses. The Shivshahi buses are air-conditioned luxury buses which are operated by MSRTC and some private contractors.
In 2018, MSRTC added approximately a 1,000 special non-AC Vithai buses, which were introduced to ferry passengers to the pilgrim town of Pandharpur in Solapur district. They have a seating capacity of 45 seats and a similar design to that of 'Parivartan' buses.
In 2019,the MSRTC introduced new non-air conditioned buses with beds and recliner chairs specially designed for long overnight routes. Extra facilities like reading lamp, night lamp, charging point, fan and two huge storage compartments have also been provided.