As many as three crore women passengers took the bus over the past 11 days, Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) said.
In other words, according to the transport juggernaut, out of a total of 51 lakh passengers who took the bus each day, 30 lakh were women. This means that 62% of the passengers were women.
TSRTC said that since the introduction of the Mahalakshmi Scheme and zero fare tickets, the occupancy shot up from 69% to 88%. Several depots recorded an occupancy of over 100%. While 17 depots clocked over 100% occupancy on December 16, two regions and 20 depots clocked 100% occupancy on the next day. On December 18, six regions and 45 depots recorded an occupancy in excess of 100%.
Meanwhile, given the onset of the festive season, TSRTC is ready to press into service 1,050 new diesel buses. Another 550 electric buses on intercity routes and 500 on intracity routes will be introduced by the end of March 2024.
During a TSRTC internal meeting, staff appraised the management of the challenges they have been facing while implementing the Mahalakshmi scheme. These included cases in which passengers produced photocopies of ID proof instead of the original documents. The TSRTC has clarified that the passengers should produce original ID proof such as Aadhaar cards or Voter ID cards. These documents should show that the ID holders are domiciled in Telangana. Women without proper ID proof will be akin to ticketless passengers.
