‘Shakti scheme’ led to surge in state buses’ ridership, revenue: Govt data
According to the transport department, all four state-run buses saw a significant spike in ridership and revenue after the implementation of the Shakti scheme
The Karnataka government’s “Shakti scheme”, which offers free travel to women on state-run buses, has pushed up public transport patronage and the revenue of all the four road transport corporations (RTCs), according to the latest transport department data.
According to the data, all the four RTCs - Karnataka state road transport corporation (KSRTC), Bengaluru metropolitan transport corporation (BMTC), north western Karnataka road transport corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka road transport corporation (KKRTC) – showed a significant spike in ridership as well as revenue.
The average daily number of passengers after the implementation of the scheme of KSRTC rose from 2.42 million to 3.18 million, while BMTC saw an increase from 3.14 million to 3.83 million. NWKRTC’s ridership rose from 1.74 million to 2.33 million and KKRTC’s from 1.14 million to 1.54 million, according to the transport department data.
Meanwhile, the average daily revenue after the scheme of KSRTC rose to ₹11.51 crore from ₹9.95 crore, BMTC saw a rise from ₹4.72 crore to ₹5.18 crore, NWKRTC from ₹4.90 crore to ₹6.43 crore and KKRTC from ₹4.91 crore to ₹5.77 crore, the data showed.
The data showed that NWKRTC (52.8%) had the highest share of women passengers benefitting from the Shakti scheme, followed by KSRTC (47.9%), KKRTC (44.3%) and BMTC (42.2%).
Siddaramaiah on June 11, launched the Shakti scheme - the first of the five poll guarantees rolled out by the Congress government. According to officials, all women, including girl students, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, religion caste, can avail the facility. Gender minorities are also included in the scheme.
Civic activist Srinivas Alavilli hailed the development, and said the Shakti scheme is a game changer for women, especially for those from small towns and rural areas. “A 10% increase in bus ridership is considered huge success anywhere in the world. While some women are availing the scheme to visit temples, it’s a short-term phenomenon. The derogatory comments on Twitter criticising the new initiative are unfortunate and lack an understanding of how social welfare schemes empower citizens while also boosting the economy. Money saved on travel comes right back into local economy and even taxes.
“For a long time our RTCs are struggling to ensure quality of service to citizens due to lack of resources - both fleet and staff - with Shakti becoming a success and crowded buses a common sight across the state , the state government must allocate adequate funds to RTCs while holding them accountable for quality of service.
Relative to the annual state budget of ₹3 lakh crore and the overall social and economic benefits accrued to lakhs, funding needed for the Shakti scheme is miniscule,” said Alavilli.
“Free public transport has many benefits: environmental, social and economical - that’s why more than a Hundred cities across 36 countries today offer free public transport” Alavilli added.