Mahalaxmi Free Bus Travel Scheme Receives Unprecedented Response; Original ID Mandatory to Avail, Says Sajjanar

Hyderabad: The State government’s ambitious ‘Mahalaxmi – Free Bus Travel Facility for Women’ scheme has received an overwhelming response from women commuters.

Within 11 days of the launch of the scheme, a record number of three crore women travelled in TSRTC buses. On an average, 30 lakh women travelled every day.

The corporation is safely transporting 51 lakh people every day, including men, to their destinations and 62% of the passengers are women.

As a result of the free travel scheme for women, the corporation’s occupancy ratio (OR) has also increased significantly. Earlier, the OR was 69 per cent.

Now, it has increased to 88 per cent. As many as 17 depots on December 16, 20 depots on December 17 and 45 depots on December 18 recorded more than 100 per cent OR. Yadagirigutta, Vemulawada, Dubbaka, Gajwel-Pragnapur, Huzurabad, Medchal, Musheerabad, Miyapur-II, Jeedimetla and Kushaiguda depots have achieved the 100 per cent OR in the last three days.

The State government had introduced the ‘Mahalaxmi – free bus travel facility for women’ scheme from December 9. The TSRTC is implementing this scheme in Palle Velugu, Express, City Ordinary and Metro Express buses.

In order to implement the scheme effectively, zero tickets were being issued to the women from the December 15.

The corporation’s Managing Director VC Sajjanar held a virtual meeting with the field level officials on the implementation of the free bus travel facility. He personally spoke to drivers and conductors of around 30 depots.

He enquired about the implementation of the scheme and the difficulties being faced by them. Several instructions were given to the staff and passengers on the occasion.

Original Identity Card is Mandatory

There has been a good response. The scheme is being used by women, girls, students and third genders in a big way. It has come to the notice of the corporation that some women are not bringing their identity cards during their travel.

It is learnt that photocopies of identity cards are being brought and soft copies are being shown on smart phones.

“We are asking women to show the original Aadhaar, voter, driving and other identity cards issued by the central and state governments and take zero tickets. Free travel facility will not be allowed if the photocopies are shown on smartphones.”

“The photos should also be clearly visible on the identity cards. Most of the Aadhar cards have childhood photographs. We are requesting the beneficiaries to update them.”

“The scheme is applicable only to the women from Telangana state as per the government’s directives. Women from other states must pay the fare and take the ticket,” VC Sajjanar said.

2050 New Buses Soon

VC Sajjanar said the TSRTC management had decided to make available new buses to cater to the rush of passengers.

As part of this, we are planning to make available about 2,050 new buses in four to five months, he said. “Of these, 1,050 are diesel buses. 1000 new electric buses will also be added to meet the increased demand. Those buses will be put into use in a phased manner,” said Sajjanar.