Women passengers touch 13 lakh, men drop to 2 lakhs; govt incurs liability of Rs 1.5 crore in a day

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The launch of the Priyadarshini scheme witnessed a sharp rise in the number of passengers travelling on KSRTC ordinary buses, with women commuters recording a significant increase on the very first day. It is estimated that about six lakh more women traveled yesterday compared to last Monday.

According to official figures, 13,29,938 women travelled on KSRTC ordinary buses on Monday. Of these, 7,83,115 availed themselves of the zero-ticket facility under the scheme, while the remaining passengers had purchased tickets before the scheme came into effect.

Compared with the previous Monday, when 7,34,693 women travelled on ordinary buses, the latest figures show an increase of nearly 600,000 women passengers in a single day. The government has incurred a liability of Rs 15,956,801 in just one day under the zero-ticket scheme.

Meantime, the number of male passengers recorded a sharp decline. While 694,799 men travelled on ordinary buses on the previous Monday, the figure dropped to 226,673 on Monday following the launch of the scheme.