In two Telugu states, you might have seen the English letter ‘Z’ on the number plates of RTC buses.
In Andhra Pradesh, RTC bus number plates have AP followed by district code and Z then registration number of the vehicle. For example AP 25Z 9876.
After bifurcation, in Telangana, AP has been replaced by TS and there is no other changes in TSRTC bus number plates. For example TS 01Z 9876.
Story behind ‘Z’
There is an interesting reason behind mentioning Z on RTC bus number plates.
To know the history of Z we have to go back to the year 1879. At that time Hyderabad state was ruled by the sixth Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan.
During his tenure the railway system was started in the Hyderabad state, under the name of ‘Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway Company’. For the first time, a railway line was established from Secunderabad to Wadi.
In 1932, during the tenure of Usman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam, the ‘Nizam State Railways Road Transport Division’ was established as a part of the railway organization.
Under this, public transport system started in Hyderabad state. At that time, the RTC buses number plates had Z.
RTC officials as well as historians says that, Z on RTC buses was due to the love of the 7th Nizam Mir Usman Ali Khan for his mother.
His mother name was Amat uz-Zehra Begum. Since then, this tradition continues.
After the division of RTC in 2014, the tradition to put Z on RTC buses number plates is being continued in both the states.
Here an important point to note is, this rule is applicable to only RTC owned buses. That is why you can see the letter Z only on RTC owned buses number plates, not hired buses.
Since the enactment of the Motor Vehicles Act 1989, RTO officials have been allocating numbers to RTC buses with the Z series.
