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In
Kragujevac, the first Serbian capital, the development of
traffic, appearance of automobiles and first bus lines relates
to the period 1920-1930. and to Marko Medaković, King
Petar’s chauffeur and mechanic. From 1929. to 1934. a
well-known construction company Ćirić from
Kragujevac, |
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engineer, was constructing the Kragujevac-Belgrade road,
through Topola and Ralja. The first bus line was established
in 1935. and the bus “Dodge”, the owner of which was Ljuba
Petrović, set off to Belgrade from the Mala Vaga
settlement at 6 am, stopped at the center of the Kragujevac
nearly
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Krst (“the Cross”), than through Trnava, Topola and
Ralja drove toward the Belgrade excise. It returned from
Belgrade to Kragujevac in the evening.
In the same year, a
line for Gornji Milanovac was introduced by a German vehicle
“Opel–Blitz”. |
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It is
interesting that, according to the Rulebook, passengers were
required to be properly dressed, men wearing ties and women
wearing skirts that had to go over knees while sitting.
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Before the
war, in 1939. there were 80 cars in Kragujevac and the most
common road traffic offences were speeding and drunk driving. Speeding was
punished by a fine and drunk driving by imprisonment. |
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Tourist bus
lines in this area started in 1940. when Marko Medaković
bought a luxurious bus “Spah” and the destinations were
Vrnjačka Banja, Žiča and Oplenac.
The war
interrupted the strong development of bus traffic, and the
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| Autosaobraćaj company
has been continuing this thread
from 1946. when it was established under the title Gradsko
auto preduzeće, with one old bus, three trucks and 27
employees.
The bus drove
on the direction Kragujevac-Belgrade once a day, left at 6 am
and came back at 6 pm and
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| traveled for full 6 hours.
For the
transport of passengers in the city, trucks with benches were
used.
The first director of the company was Vidan Nikolić.
In 1948. the
company received 32 trucks with benches from the Ministry of
Traffic. In 1951. a section of the Lasta company from Belgrade
was annexed to it, and in 1952. the company changed its name to
Auto Lasta. It was named Autosaobraćaj on October 10th,
1961. and it has not been changed ever since.
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Appearing on
international lines is related to connecting to a Business
Association “Intertransport” from Ljubljana, and 1965.
registered the strongest development of the company, because
30 new busses were acquired, more cargo and taxi vehicles and
the city traffic was intensively developing. Autosaobraćaj
has also had a great significance in the development of the
passenger traffic in the region of Paraćin, Aranđelovac,
Mladenovac.
The traffic
among and within the Republics was maintained at 34 lines, and
local traffic at 68 lines.
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That year,
the fleet consisted of 112 buses, 121 cargo vehicles, and in
the same year, a Tourism Sector was established in the company
and had its bureaus in Kragujevac, Paraćin, Aranđelovac,
Despotovac and Mladenovac.
A year later, the Sector for
Foreign Trade Affairs was established.
The first
crises seized the company in the period 1967-1969. when it
calculated the great loss at that time of one million dinars.
Goods traffic was abolished, and the solution was found in the
passenger traffic.
A new bus
| station was built, a hall for
repair of vehicles, new 180 people were hired and new
administration building constructed in Stanovo.
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The company
also built bus stations in surrounding places, Rača, Batočina
and Lapovo. |
In 1976. the
company had 155 modern buses with the capacity of 62,000 seats
and 5,000 standing rooms, 347 daily departures to 157
directions and transported 22 million passengers. The city
traffic was also updated and that year machines for buying
tickets in buses were introduced.
In the
following years, the company was continuing its development,
and in 1993. Autosaobraćaj became a stock company.
Wars, sanctions and big economic difficulties in the
country have been a new challenge for Autosaobraćaj.
After years of stagnation and great difficulties, without
significant renovations regarding the fleet, the ending of the
crises started with the new millennium.
New
vehicles in accordance with European standards have been
acquired, and the most important resources have been preserved
during the crises. There are 800 employeres, more than a half
of which are skillful drivers who maintain the city, suburban,
intercity and international passenger traffic.
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