VELLORE: Around 50 private bus owners, bus stand route private operators, and workers from Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Kancheepuram and Krishnagiri districts held a silent protest in Vellore on Saturday, demanding that the 'Vetri Payanam Thittam' be extended to private buses as well.
The Vetri Payanam Thittam (previously Vidiyal Payanam), which is set to be launched on October 2, will provide cost-free bus travel for women and transgender individuals. The expanded free travel scheme covers multiple categories of government-operated buses across Tamil Nadu, including the express, limited stop service (LSS), and deluxe buses operating within the corporation, city, and municipal limits. Along with this, the mofussil ordinary and ghat/hill ordinary buses, including routes travelling beyond 40-kilometre, have also been added.
The protesters said they wholeheartedly welcome the free travel scheme, and added, “We request that under this welfare scheme, private bus operators, who have been serving the public for over a century, also be given the opportunity to participate."
They further suggested that if the government were to provide a subsidy for each trip made by all private buses, including both town and mofussil services (for instance, 12 rupees per free travel ticket for women per journey), then the public would not need to wait for government buses and could travel immediately on whichever private bus was available at the moment.
“If this is implemented, the government will not have to face the additional burden of purchasing new buses or building extra infrastructure, and private bus owners will also be benefited," said the protestors.