State Express Transport Corporation (Tamil Nadu) Limited - (SETC) is a state-owned transport corporation that runs long-distance mofussil services exceeding 300 km and above throughout the state of Tamil Nadu and major cities in adjoining states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and the union territory of Puducherry. This is one of eight transport corporations currently operating in Tamil Nadu. It is registered under the Companies Act,1956, and its registered office is situated in Chennai.
A separate entity exclusively for operating long-distance express services was conceived by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1975, and the services were transferred to the newly formed express wing of Pallavan Transport Corporation with effect from 15 September 1975. It was formally registered on 14 January 1980 and renamed the Thiruvalluvar Transport Corporation (TTC) in honor of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. During the 1990s, RGTC was formed, which operated interstate routes of the erstwhile TTC. JJTC was then renamed as RGTC in 1996. Both TTC and RGTC were later merged into the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) in 1997.
SETC provides services at fixed rates throughout the year, unlike Omni buses, where fares increase multi-fold during long weekends and festival holidays.
SETC provides booking and reservations on all of its routes. The reservation period is 60 days before the journey date. There are options to reserve tickets online at https://www.tnstc.in/home.html as well as at SETC counters at major Bus Stations. The travellers will be notified by SMS with a conductor's mobile number when the passenger list is printed at the originating station.