As Karnataka’s Shakti Scheme is seeing huge success and has led to an increased women ridership on buses, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is now considering the reintroduction of ‘Pink buses’ buses in Bengaluru.
Speaking to The Hindu, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that the idea of pink buses was initially given by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar during a recent bus launch event. “Following the successful launch of Shakti, women’s ridership in Karnataka buses has increased. Now, we are in the process of adding more buses to the fleet. The pink bus idea is good and we are exploring the possibility of introducing new pink buses in the BMTC fleet, exclusively dedicated to women passengers,” he said.
Watch | What is Karnataka’s new ‘Shakti’ scheme?
Initially launched in 2006-07 exclusively for women, the pink buses were discontinued owing to poor patronage. Subsequently, BMTC considered reintroducing them multiple times, but the plans didn’t materialize for various reasons. “BMTC will examine how pink buses can benefit women passengers. We need to identify routes with higher women passengers and obtain approval from the State government to procure new buses. Our officials will conduct a route rationalisation study,” Mr. Reddy said.
Since the launch of the Shakti Scheme on June 11, 2023, till February 10, 2024, the RTCs have issued over 150 Crore “zero tickets” indicating the number of free bus rides women have taken utilising the scheme. The cumulative value of tickets so issued has been ₹3,599.63 crore.
Additional buses by RTCs to alleviate holiday rush
Meanwhile, Mr. Reddy, who is also Muzrai and Endowment Minister, said that he has directed all four road transport corporations (RTCs) to deploy additional buses during the upcoming summer holidays season. The initiative aims to accommodate the increased travel anticipated in coming months during summer holidays for schools and colleges as people head to temples and other tourist destinations across the State utilizing the Shakti scheme.
“After the introduction of the Shakti scheme in the state, we observed a significant increase in women passengers utilising the scheme to travel to temples and various tourist destinations. We anticipate that many women passengers will travel during the upcoming summer holidays too, and therefore, all the corporations will have additional buses to various destinations,” he added.
