Maha Lakshmi scheme: Passenger traffic increases in TSRTC buses

There has been a sharp rise in women passengers across the state availing free bus ride

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has witnessed an overall increase of about 20 per cent of the passenger traffic on an average, ever since the ‘Maha Lakshmi’ free bus travel scheme for women was introduced. About 45 lakh passengers use buses each day. Of them, women comprise around 14 lakh ridership.

There has been a sharp rise in women passengers across the state availing free bus ride. The number of passengers recorded on December 10 was almost 15 per cent higher than that of December 3 (both Sundays).

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RTC officials said the actual numbers of the women passengers availing the scheme will be known or available once the ‘Zero Ticket’ software comes into existence. Until then, bus conductors have been instructed to verify the address on women’s identity cards to confirm their state of domicile and enter the details manually into the system.

With the launch of the ‘Maha Lakshmi’ scheme, women who used to travel in private buses on various routes are now opting for the free travel facility at government buses.

According to the officials, Mondays are usually more crowded than other days and RTC expects a much higher passenger load. It has also cancelled leaves of all drivers and conductors to run 10 per cent additional buses to Shaiva Kshetras, in view of Karthika Masam.

“We will try to ply buses as per the load of women passengers. We will focus on new strategies to meet the needs of passengers with the existing buses. This includes ‘cut’ trips so that if there is traffic, instead of going to distant places, the buses will be run on routes with more passenger load,’ a senior RTC official said.

RTC ridership:

Between December 1 to 11:

* Over 2.7 crore passengers travelled in buses
* 1.69 crore passengers from districts
* 1.10 crore in the city
* Estimated to have increased by nearly 25 % between December 8 and 11
* Occupancy Rate was nearly 78 per cent.

In Hyderabad limits:

* 11 lakh passengers travel each day
* Women constitute 50%
* 4 lakh women traveled on December 9
* 8 lakh traveled on December 10
* 10 lakh traveled on December 11.