Women bus passengers should mandatorily provide original ID card proof: TSRTC MD

HYDERABAD: TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar has advised women availing the Mahalakshmi scheme of travelling free in buses should mandatorily carry original identity cards such as Aadhaar and voter ids.

In a review meeting held virtually on Wednesday, Sajjanar said that the TSRTC staff had noticed that a lot of women were not carrying their original identity cards while travelling and were producing only photocopies or soft copies on smartphones. "This will not be accepted. People should also update their identity cards if necessary," he said.

The MD expressed gratitude towards the TSRTC staff for quickly understanding the scheme and implementing it successfully. He reminded that women should be diligent in taking a ticket, as the Government would only reimburse TSRTC for zero tickets issued. He added that a few passengers on high-traffic routes were footboarding and requested cooperation from passengers during rush hours for their safety.

The MD said that TSRTC was planning to introduce around 2,050 new buses in the next four to five months, including diesel and electric buses, to cope with the increasing number of passengers.

It may be recalled that the 'Mahalakshmi-free bus travel facility for women' scheme, launched by the State Government, has received an overwhelming response from women passengers in Telangana. Within just 11 days of its implementation, a record 3 crore women had traveled in TSRTC buses.

On an average, 30 lakh women were commuting every day, making up 62 per cent of the total passengers. The Occupancy Ratio (OR) of the organisation had increased significantly, from 69 per cent to 88 per cent, due to the scheme. Several depots have achieved more than 100 per cent OR in the last three days, indicating the popularity of the free travel scheme.