Karnataka's transport department has announced that the Shakti scheme, the free bus travel for women, has clocked 100 crore users since its launch in June this year. ‘Shakti’ is one of the Congress’ five guarantee schemes promised to people before the assembly elections in the state.
Between June 11 and November 22, a total of 1,004,756,184 rides were taken by the women of Karnataka under the Shakti scheme. The number is based on the number of free tickets given by all four state-run road corporations in Karnataka.
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Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is on top as it gave a total of 32.69 crore free bus rides to women. With 30.12 crore, 23.37 crore and 14.28 crore free bus rides for women respectively, Karnataka State Road Transport (KSRTC), Northwestern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) stood at next places.
The total free tickets of Shakti scheme are valued at ₹2,397 core, according to the Karnataka transport department.
{{/usCountry}}The total free tickets of Shakti scheme are valued at ₹2,397 core, according to the Karnataka transport department.
{{/usCountry}}In the first one month, over 16 crore women passengers availed the benefit of Shakti scheme across all four road corporations.
The Shakti scheme applies only to the ordinary state-run bus services of Karnataka. Airavat, Airavat Club Class, Airavat Gold Class, Ambari, Ambari Dream Class, Ambari Utsav, Fly Bus, Vayu Vajra, Vajra, Non-AC Sleeper, Rajahamsa and EV Power Plus AC buses are excluded in this scheme. The scheme doesn’t also apply to those buses which travel outside the state.