Bus travel in wartime: Transport modernisation and the politics of mobility in Princely Travancore, 1939–1945

This article examines the operation of government-run bus services in Princely Travancore during the Second World War, highlighting how wartime disruptions reshaped mobility practices in the region. Drawing on a sociotechnical approach, this study analyses interactions between mobility subjects (passengers, operators, and the state) and mobility objects (vehicles, fuel, and regulatory frameworks). With road transport being brought under direct government control, mobility became central to Travancore's modernisation agenda and to the articulation of its aspirations for modern statehood. Travancore's responses to motor fuel shortages, through experiments with motor spirit and charcoal gas, reflected efforts to reduce dependence on imported fuel. It explores the formation of mobility capital , comprising technical knowledge and material resources backed by the autocratic princely regime, which persisted despite the region's limited industrial base. It examines how Travancore alleviated wartime fuel shortages, thereby revealing the limits of Western paradigms and highlighting varied trajectories of transport modernity from a Global South perspective.