Telangana women welcome free bus rides: No burden on government spending, says TSRTC

Hyderabad: Immediately after coming to power on December 7, the newly-elected Congress government in Telangana made intra-state bus rides free for all women. Although one can assume that the initiative can put a burden of crores of rupees on government spending, it has brought smiles to many women passengers who said that the public scheme has helped them save a lot of money.

The free bus rides were part of the Congress’ six guarantees the party promised during the elections.

How does the free bus travel scheme work?

The ticket-free rides for women are for local city buses and inter-district Express buses and do not cover air-conditioned luxury buses, buses like Volvo, Pushpak etc. Also, in case the bus is crossing the borders of Telangana and is headed for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra or Karnataka, then the ticket fare from the border to the destination will be applicable.

Free travel helped families meet more often

When asked by NewsMeter about her experience travelling ticket-less, K Mallamma, who frequently travels between Gajwel and Secunderabad Jubilee Bus Station (JBS), said, “I used to pay Rs 80 every time I visited my daughters in Hyderabad. But now I need not buy tickets anymore and as the money is saved, I can come down more often.”

Like Mallamma, Krishna Veni from Bhongir and Ashwrita Reddy from Karimnagar are very happy over this ‘gift’ from the government.

“My house is in Karimnagar but I live in Hyderabad for my job. I can travel anywhere in the city or within the state without bothering about the ticket and it will save a lot of money. My mother is now happily moving about in bus instead of bargaining with autorickshaw drivers who charge an unreasonably steep fare for even short distances,” said Ashwrita.

Less burden on bus conductors

The no-ticket policy has also benefitted bus conductors by decreasing their workload by almost 50 per cent.

Pramod Kumar, a conductor of a Siddipet-bound bus, said, “Earlier, nearly 50 per cent of the occupants of the buses used to be women but now it seems more than 60 per cent of seats are getting occupied by women because they now prefer travelling by bus, which is economical. When a family travels, only the husband, children above 11 years and the accompanying male passenger need to pay.”

“Ever since the scheme started, we need not collect ticket fare from more than half the passengers,” said Kumar, pointing to the front and the middle portions of the bus which was filled by women.

Loss of government exchequer

All the benefits notwithstanding, RTC employees are also worried about the pressure that such a move will put on the government funds.

One of the RTC conductors Mohammed Minhaz pointed out that though the free bus ride is a good initiative, it will be a burden to the government coffers.

“We will be incurring losses worth several lakhs or rather crores of rupees every day because more than half the passengers are women who need not purchase tickets. For example, from Secunderabad to Siddipet, the bus fare is Rs 150 and none of the women would need to pay the fare. This would incur Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,500 as loss daily if there are 25 to 30 women on board the bus. On top of it, children below five years need not pay and there are also fare concessions for various groups of people,” he said, explaining the maths.

Bring ID, says TSRTC

When asked about the projected loss that might run into several lakhs of rupees every day, managing director of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) VC Sajjanar said, “No, it would not be a loss for us and we will be continuing with this initiative even next week and thereafter.”

“The only difference is that as it is the launch week, one need not show any ID proof when they enter the bus. But from next week onwards, women have to show a valid ID with address proof like a voter ID card or Aadhar card to travel in city buses and Express buses free of cost anywhere in the state,” added the MD, who interacted with women passengers at JBS on Monday.