BENGALURU: More than 200 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) staffers have been instructed to head to different routes in the city with a unique task on hand: To collect first-hand information on the implementation of the Shakti scheme, which offers free travel to women in non-premium government buses.
The scheme was rolled out on June 11 and since then, ridership of the city’s lifeline BMTC has been soaring. The average ridership, which was around 27.34 lakh before the scheme’s launch, jumped to nearly 40 lakh per day. While the scheme has been hailed by women, multiple issues have come in the way of its implementation.
It has also put students and office-goers in trouble as buses are not able to maintain schedules. BMTC Managing Director G Sathyavathi herself travelled in BMTC buses last week to check the status. She has now directed over 200 staffers to travel to different destinations to get a clear picture of the scheme’s response in the entire city.
“After the rollout of the Shakti scheme, we wanted to get feedback from different types of people. We have more than 5,000 schedules every day. We wish to collect feedback from passengers and take corrective measures,” Sathyavathi told The New Indian Express.
Malati, a daily commuter, said, “As conductors take time to verify passes and issue zero tickets between bus stops, they halt and then proceed, which increases the journey time. During peak hours, they should add more buses to avoid overcrowding.”
On June 26, more than 18.89 lakh women passengers of 34.79 lakh travelled in BMTC buses. The total ticket value of women passengers in the bus corporation from June 11 to June 26 crossed Rs 34 crore.