BENGALURU: School and college-going girls, who used to produce their admission tickets to get yearly bus passes, need not buy passes henceforth.
They can travel by state-run buses for free under Shakti scheme. An official order in this regard is expected soon, according to sources. Like other women passengers, girl students should get Shakti smart cards. Applications for such cards will be received soon, the sources said.
They said conductors of state-run buses have been directed to issue “zero” tickets to girl students. If they have purchased passes for 2023-24, they will be allowed to travel on those routes and conductors have been directed not to issue “zero” tickets to them.
The sources said there is no provision for refund of bus pass fee paid by girl students. School and college-going boys will now be allowed to travel by state-run buses by producing passes issued for the last academic year (2022-23) till June 30.
They should get new passes through the Seva Sindhu portal from July 1. On June 20, 17.89 lakh women travelled by BMTC buses and the total ticket amount exempted under the Shakti scheme was Rs 2.27 crore. KSRTC recorded 17.46 lakh passengers and the exemption was Rs 5.21 crore. NWKRTC recorded 14.47 lakh passengers and the exemption was Rs 3.59 crore. KKRTC registered 8.05 lakh passengers and the total exemption was Rs 2.57 crore.