Women form 64% of the ridership in Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) “ordinary” class of buses following the implementation of the Priyadarshini free ride scheme on June 15, up from 50% last week, top officials said on Wednesday.
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The UDF government rolled out the scheme on June 15, allowing women and transgender persons free rides in the ordinary class of KSRTC buses as part of its pre-election promise. The burden of running the scheme, amounting to around ₹800 crore annually, will be borne by the state government, officials had said. There are around 3,100 “ordinary” KSRTC services in the state, out of 4,500 total services.
Data released by the state transport department on Wednesday showed that 725,000 women rode in the “ordinary” class of state-run buses by buying tickets on June 8 before the start of implementation of the scheme. The figure was around 50% of the total ridership in these buses. On the first day of the scheme’s implementation, June 15, the number of women riders rose to 963,000 and subsequently 1.18 million on June 16. This indicates a 14% rise in the number of women riders within two days of the scheme’s roll-out.
On June 16, of the 1.85 million passengers who took rides in the KSRTC’s ordinary class of buses, 1.18 million were women, accounting for 64% of the ridership.
Women form 47% of the total riders in all classes of KSRTC buses, data showed. While 2.55 million people rode in all classes of KSRTC buses on June 16, 1.20 million were women.
“The data clearly shows that the number of women who ride KSRTC buses, in its ordinary class, has risen following the scheme’s rollout. It indicates that the number of women passengers in KSRTC will continue to rise. It shows the success of the scheme,” a statement of the transport department said.
