As the Karnataka government launched the Shakti scheme, to allow women to travel for free in State-run road transport corporations (RTCs), the four corporations (the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, the BMTC, the NWKRTC, and the KKRTC) have planned to procure 1,894 new buses this year.
The move comes after the public demanded more buses to successfully implement the scheme which may make more people use buses since it is free.
“It has been planned by the corporations to procure 1,894 buses during the year. Nevertheless, after implementation of the Shakti scheme, action will be taken to induct more buses as per demand,” the KSRTC said in a release.
Currently, the four RTCs operate 23,989 buses across the State with an average run of 65.02 lakh kilometres per day.
Apart from this, the RTCs are planning to recruit more personnel as per the need. It is expected that women passengers may increase on some routes requiring more buses. “In such cases, the timetable will be revised and schedules rationalised to meet this demand,” the KSRTC added in the release.
All four RTCs have 1,04,450 staff employed.
The government has decided to reimburse the cost of free travel to the corporations based on the zero ticket or Shakti smart card issued data.
The government routinely reimburses the subsidy provided for bus passes, apart from special grants and financial assistance. The government has reimbursed ₹3,606.52 crore to all four corporations from April 2022 to March-2023.
The Shakti scheme has been calculated to cost around ₹4,051. 56 crore annually.
