Bengaluru: After Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, female passengers in Bengaluru may soon be able to travel with non-AC BMTC buses for free.
While Bangalore Metropolitan transportation corporation officials said the proposal was still in the discussion stage, if implemented, it would not only increase women’s empowerment also gave BJP leg-ups in 2023 BBMP elections, experts said.
A senior BMTC official said the proposal could be placed in the upcoming state budget.
The BMTC daily prison is around 36 lakh before Covid-19 and is reduced to 25 lakh now.
The utility estimates that 25-30% of the passengers are women.
In accordance with the 2011 census, the participation of men’s workforce in the Bengaluru metropolitan area is 62% and women are 24%.
In addition, female and children will be borne by plans.
BMTC proposed to issue a smart card to female passengers and impose annual fees once.
Passengers need to use cards on electronic ticket machines and utilities will claim the number of governments based on transactions / travel.
Tara Krishnaswamy from residents for Bengaluru, an NGO said: “Free bus trips will empower women and also create more livelihood choices.
But it is also the responsibility of the government to replace the number of BMTC.
Now, many women walk or travel in a car together because They were unable to buy bus fare.
“The Delhi government led AAP is the first to introduce free bus trips for women in this country.
In Delhi, non-AC bus conductors issued a pink ticket from the nominal value of Rs 10 each for female passengers.
The government restores the public transport utility based on the number of tickets issued.
In Tamil Nadu, the government provides a subsidy of 1,200 crore per year to benefit the country’s transportation to compensate for free bus trips for women.
BMTC officials said free bus trips could not hurt utility as long as the government replaced costs without delay.
“The BMTC annual income of the ticket collection is Rs 1,400-Rs 1,900 Crore.
If the government can provide a number to BMTC, we can make a free trip for all,” said an official.
BMTC, along with the Labor Department, recently decided to issue a free monthly trajectory to female garment workers.
Similarly, in relation to the building and construction welfare agency, IS entered the free bus for construction workers.
The transport utility also provides soft trajectories for students, senior and other citizens.
But the government has not returned crores rupees to BMTC, especially to give concessions to students and others.