Karnataka 'Shakti' scheme: 50 lakh to 55 lakh women avail free bus ride daily, 3.6 crore in 8 days

BENGALURU: Six of the first eight days since the launch of Shakti scheme on June 11 have seen more than 50 lakh women utilising the free bus service daily with more than 3.6 crore having benefited as of June 18.

On the day of the rollout, an official statement had estimated daily beneficiaries of the scheme to be 41.2 lakh, which was breached on the second day (June 12) with 41.3 lakh women using the services, after which the number has been more than 50 lakh consistently with June 16 reporting the highest daily figure of 55 lakh. However, one may have to wait to see if the numbers stabilise after initial euphoria to analyse the situation more accurately.

Good response from women has also resulted in an increase in overall ridership. Going by the figures available, daily passenger numbers were at least a crore or more on six of the eight days, as against the initial estimate of daily ridership at 82 lakh with June 16 ridership at 1.2 crore. Overall ridership has logged an increase of about 25% to 45%.
Given that the scheme was officially launched on a Sunday afternoon, the response on Day 1 stood at around 5.2 lakh, but there was an exponential rise in ridership from the second day - exceeding estimation by 21-33%.

The ticket value of beneficiaries was nearly Rs 84.3 crore for the first eight days. Compared to the first day's ridership, there was a ten-fold increase over the next two days. BMTC reported a 35% increase in overall ridership, according to its chief traffic manager Vishwanath Kotagal.
Will take 15-20 days to understand ridership patterns: BMTC official
Kotagal said: "During and after Covid-19, public transport corporations were facing many challenges and ridership had dropped. This scheme has helped place public transport at the centre of public life."
While the modalities of how and when the government will pay the RTCs for all these free tickets are yet to be worked out, data for the last seven days shows that even on days when the beneficiary count fell by 1%-2%, total value of nil tickets issued had still seen an increase.
According to Kotagal, it will take RTCs 15-20 days to understand ridership patterns as the numbers will stabilise in a month. "There may be a rush now due to the initial euphoria, but once the numbers stabilise, officials will be able to plan or replan trips and schedules according to the demand for ridership," he added.