In one of his interviews, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy addressed bus overcrowding in long-distance non-premium buses and announced a way to curb it with a tweak in the bus ticketing process. If you’re part of the crowd who takes the bus, you too surely might have experienced this issue at least once. So, what is the solution he came up with, you ask?
Karnataka Lets Passengers Book Long-Distance Bus Tickets In Advance
Road Transport Corporations (RTC) announced that advanced booking or reservations will soon be introduced on non-premium long-distance buses to restrain overcrowding after the launch of the free travel scheme for women was announced.
The idea of free travel for women, transgenders, and girl students via buses was launched under the ‘Shakti Scheme’. According to officials, over 41.8 lakh women passengers every day will benefit from the free travel service and an estimated ₹4,051.56 crore annually would be the cost for the state exchequer to take on.
The Minister said that RTCs facing losses in the current financial year is not because of the scheme they rolled out but because of COVID-19 and high fuel prices and believes things could turn around soon for them.
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New Fleet Of Buses To Be Added To Strengthen Current Number
These key details were announced by the transport minister via an interview with Prajavani on Monday. He also clarified that while the reservation system would soon roll out, it will continue to remain free for women in accordance with this previous scheme that allows women to use the bus for free.
He also said that to increase the strength of his fleet, the RTC would procure 4,000 new buses under a new policy in the current financial year to replace the old buses. In one of their earlier statements, four RTCs would procure 1,894 buses in 2023-24 said the KSRTC. Previously, they had managed to obtain just 521 buses and were able to increase their fleet to 23,989.
Also Read: Shakti Scheme: Step-By-Step Guide To How Women Can Avail Free Travel In Karnataka
The RTCs also disclosed that the men were outnumbered by the women on government buses for the first time since the launch of the Shakti scheme which enables free travelling for women.
As per reports by the Deccan Herald, close to 51.48 lakh women travelled by RTC buses on June 18, contributing to a total of 52% passenger count, which summed up to 97.43 lakhs.
Tickets worth ₹13.99 crore were issued to them. In total, 3.63 crore women have availed themselves of the Shakti Scheme.
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