BENGALURU: With the Congress government launching the first of its five guarantees, the ‘Shakti Yojana’, allowing free transport for women within the state, there has been overwhelming response from women.
The KSRTC and other state-run transport corporations witnessed huge response to the free travel scheme on the first day on Sunday. Women travelled to many places without tickets and enjoyed the ride. Even on the second day, on Monday, KSRTC buses ran at full capacity.
The BMTC, KSRTC buses used to ply at full capacity only on holidays. Henceforth, there is a possibility that the number of women passengers will increase on working days as well. Keeping this in mind, the transport corporations are preparing to run additional buses whenever necessary.
There are 23,989 buses of the four corporations operating in the state, of which 18,609 have been provided for women, except for luxury buses and those plying outside the state. The transport department has estimated that about 41.81 lakh women will get the facility of Shakti Yojana every day.
If the number of women passengers increases, the government plans to use 1,894 additional buses to cater to the demand. The government has assured that new buses will be added to the fleet as demand increases.