Shakti boosts RTC ridership with 13.07 crore women availing of the scheme so far

The number of women passengers travelling for free in the non-premium services of State-run buses across the State under Shakti has been steadily increasing since the launch of the scheme. On July 3, the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) recorded the highest-ever daily ridership of 67.15 lakh.

Bengaluru

The number of women passengers travelling for free in the non-premium services of State-run buses across the State under Shakti has been steadily increasing since the launch of the scheme. On July 3, the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) recorded the highest-ever daily ridership of 67.15 lakh.

Meanwhile, the RTCs are planning to submit a proposal to the government to get the cost of free travel reimbursed to the corporations after the State Budget.

So far, from the day of the launch of the Shakti scheme, 13,07,86,827 women passengers have travelled by bus, costing the RTCs ₹248,30,13,266. All four corporations, which were making losses, started getting more revenue after the scheme was implemented, according to officials.

“Implementation of the Shakthi scheme has hugely benefited the RTCs, both in terms of revenue and increase in average daily number of passengers. Prior to the implementation, the daily ridership of the four RTCs was 82.51 lakh, which has now increased to 1.09 crore. Similarly, the daily revenue before Shakti was ₹24.48 crore, and has now risen to ₹28.89 crore,” KSRTC Managing Director Anbu Kumar told The Hindu.

According to the data shared by the RTCs, NWKRTC (52.8%) had the highest share of Shakti beneficiaries, followed by KSRTC (47.9%), KKRTC (44.3%) and BMTC (42.2%).

Speaking to The Hindu, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, “More than revenue, the service is very important. The RTCs have been set up to serve the people and not just make revenue. The Shakti scheme has helped all four corporations to generate revenue and at the same time to serve the public.”