Women drive a turnaround story for state transport utility

The Kendre family of around 20 women opted to take a state transport bus from Bhor taluka to Pune to attend a wedding function in October 2023

The Kendre family of around 20 women opted to take a state transport bus from Bhor taluka to Pune to attend a wedding function in October 2023. The reason to choose the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) facility over private buses is the 50 per cent concession on ticket fare for women passengers announced by the state government.

According to officials, the daily women ridership has touched around 15-16 lakh from 6-7 lakh after the facility was implemented. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

And it is a win-win situation for passengers and the public transport utility.

“Why should we pay high fare to private buses when MSRTC is offering 50 per cent discount and also taking no charge from women above 75 years,” said Sangita Kendre, a woman from Balawadi village in Bhor tehsil.

While presenting the state budget for 2023-24 on March 9, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that women passengers travelling on MSRTC buses will get 50 per cent concession on fares. The facility implemented from March 17 has seen a massive jump of women ridership in state transport buses.

And Sangita is one of the thousands to avail the facility, to attend family programmes and weddings, official work, and even funerals that many avoided because of the cost factor.

According to officials, the daily women ridership has touched around 15-16 lakh from 6-7 lakh after the facility was implemented. In the past few months, many of the 31 divisions of MSRTC in the state have registered higher revenue highlighting an initiative that scripted a turnaround story for a loss-making organisation.

Shekhar Channe, vice-chairman and managing director, MSRTC, said, “Under the women concession scheme, we have earned ₹1,119.57 crore from March to November 2023 and the senior citizen concession plan revenue is ₹1,092.37 crore from August 2022 to November 2023. The concession amount is pooled in by the state government to the state transport commission.”

The state government has so far released ₹1,119.57 crore to MSRTC to cover the concession facility.

According to MSRTC, over 42.25 crore women passengers within the state have availed the “Mahila Samman Yojana” launched by the state nine months ago across all MSRTC fleet, including Shivneri and other buses.

On most routes, women passengers have outnumbered men after the scheme was launched, said MSRTC officials.

“As a marketing professional at a private company, I have to travel across the state. The concession plan has saved by earnings during my travel by Shivneri bus to Mumbai, Kolhapur and other parts of the state,” said Pooja Rathi.

“We are getting a good response to the ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’ scheme from the women passengers across the state. Women ridership has increased from 32 per cent last year to 40 per cent,” said Channe.

The state public transport utility has a fleet of over 15,000 buses with daily ridership of more than 50 lakh passengers.

“We have observed a marked rise in women passengers on rural routes after the plan was implemented,” said Channe.