CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu transport department has estimated that around 28 lakh additional women could benefit from the state’s free bus travel scheme each day if it is extended to cover all bus services, barring air-conditioned, non-AC sleeper and premium services.
Sources from the transport department told TNIE that the state is studying the implementation of Karnataka’s Shakti Scheme, which offers free travel for women in around 26,000 buses — the largest such network in the country — excluding premium, AC, luxury and non-AC sleeper services.
“If a similar model is adopted in TN, nearly 28 lakh more women are expected to use the scheme. This would increase the total number of beneficiaries who avail free travel in government buses per day from the present 1.31 crore (all concessional commuters combined) to about 1.59 crore,” a senior official said.
The free travel scheme for women is currently available only in around 7,300 ordinary buses, benefiting nearly 70 lakh women every day. If the scheme is extended on the lines of Karnataka’s, it would also cover about 7,600 mofussil buses operated by the six Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) divisions, and 500 semi-sleeper buses of the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC). As a result, the total number of buses offering free travel for women would increase from about 7,300 to approximately 15,400.
“The decision on including city deluxe or any other category of buses has not been taken yet,” clarified the official. The transport department has begun analysing reservation data from SETC and TNSTC services to estimate the average fare per woman commuter in mofussil and SETC buses.
40% of existing women beneficiaries also likely to use extended services
The exercise aims to assess the financial implications of expanding the free travel scheme.
“We have compiled reservation data from SETC and TNSTC buses to arrive at the average fare per passenger. At present, about 70 lakh women travel free in around 7,300 ordinary buses across the state daily. Based on preliminary estimates, nearly 40% of these women are also likely to use mofussil and non-AC SETC seater services if those are also brought under the scheme,” the official explained.
He added that extending the scheme to long-distance services would further reduce women’s travel expenditure. However, the additional ridership may not translate into significant employment gains, as long-distance travel is predominantly undertaken for family visits, healthcare, education, official work and pilgrimages.
“The proposal is still at a preliminary stage as several operational and financial aspects need to be examined. Ordinary buses often carry repeat commuters making multiple trips in a day. In contrast, commuters on SETC and mofussil services generally undertake only one or two long-distance trips. Therefore, the demand pattern for these services will be different,” the official noted.
The state’s eight transport corporations carry around 2.05 crore commuters a day, of whom nearly 64% travel for free under various schemes. These include around 70 lakh women using ordinary buses, 38 lakh students, besides senior citizens, persons with disabilities, freedom fighters, senior Tamil scholars, award recipients, Tamil language martyrs and other eligible beneficiaries.
TN pays about Rs 5,380 crore annually to transport corporations, including Rs 3,600 crore towards the implementation of free bus travel scheme for women and Rs 1,780 crore to compensate for concessional fares provided to school and college students. It may be noted that as per the Karnataka budget 2026-2027, the state had budgeted Rs 5,300 crore for the Shakthi free bus travel scheme for FY2026-27.
According to a study by TN Planning Panel, women save an average of `830 a month under the scheme. The state’ fleet strength is 21,500 buses, of which around 19,100 are in operation. The state records an average daily ridership of 980 to 1,000 commuters per bus — the highest in the country.