Free metro rides stuck in red tape, AAP to first roll out scheme in buses

The Delhi government currently has 5,521 buses that ply across Delhi-NCR. The city’s state-run buses have a daily ridership of over four million out of which nearly 31% are women.

As Delhi government’s plan to offer free rides to women in the Metro is set to take longer with the involvement of the fare-fixation committee, the city administration is now planning to implement the scheme first in its buses.

Delhi government is now planning to implement the scheme first in its buses since the city’s state-run buses have a daily ridership of over four million out of which nearly 31% are women. (Sonu Mehta/HT FIle Photo/Representative Image)

The Delhi government currently has 5,521 buses that ply across Delhi-NCR. The city’s state-run buses have a daily ridership of over four million out of which nearly 31% are women.

While announcing the scheme on June 3, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had asked the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to submit proposals of rolling out the schemes in their respective networks.

The DTC and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System Ltd (which operated the cluster buses) had given an estimate of Rs. 300 crore for the project for which it had suggested introducing special passes and cards to the beneficiaries of the scheme.

“Assembly elections are scheduled early next year and the plan to roll out the scheme in the Delhi Metro is taking longer than expected. But, the leadership wants some tangible benefits of the proposal in the next two-three months. So, we are working on the modalities to roll out the subsidy in buses first. Implementing it in buses is way easier because DTC and Cluster buses are completely under the Delhi government’s jurisdiction,” said an official on condition of anonymity. The official added that the Metro will simultaneously work on its options in the meantime.

In its proposal, the DMRC had stated it would take at least six months to implement the scheme. It had offered two stop-gap arrangements to the government, out of which the Cabinet preferred the one which involved giving single ticket journey tokens in pink colour to the interested female commuters. But this alternative, the DMRC has said would take them at least eight months to roll out.

Apart from this, the entire proposal also needs the approval of the fare fixation committee which is yet to be constituted.