NEW DELHI: Taking a step towards its ambitious plan to make travel free for women, the Delhi Government will soon get an estimate about the number of women commuters in the national capital. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics has conducted a survey to provide the number of women commuters in the city along with their travel preferences and expenditures.
Teams from the directorate have collected data through a survey conducted in buses and metro stations. A one-page questionnaire had been formed for the women commuters with questions about their travel time, money spent on travel, means of commuting and personal economic status.
“Eleven teams were formed, each consisting of three members - including one woman - to carry out the survey in the field. It has been conducted district wise and women commuters were requested to answer the questionnaire on the spot,” a source from the Directorate of Economic Statistics told The Morning Standard.
Apart from questions about the travel time, the questionnaire also enquires about the Metro Line used by women, the distance covered in a day and the total expenditure on commuting. According to the source, the survey was conducted for around a week and was completed this month. However, it is yet to be assessed by the directorate. After the questionnaire is analysed by the directorate, it will be handed over to the Delhi government.
Eyeing the upcoming Assembly poll, the AAP government had offered to make metro rides free for women passengers across Delhi in June. Since then, the government’s plan has received criticism by the opposition BJP as well as the Metro man, E Sreedharan himself.
Sreedharan, the former chief of Delhi Metro also wrote to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi requesting him to decline Kejriwal’s offer underlining that the AAP’s ambitious plan would lead the metro service towards inefficiency and financial dependency.
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