Free travel for women: Punjab Government mulls bus ticket management system

Chandigarh, July 10

Continuing with its populist scheme of free travel for women in the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), Punbus and Punjab Roadways, the government is mulling introducing a bus ticket management system. This will enable the government to have real-time data of beneficiaries.

Over 3 lakh women avail of the facility of free bus travel daily. As per official figures, nearly 11 crore women availed of the facility during the 2023-24 fiscal year. The scheme is not applicable to government-owned AC buses, Volvo buses and HVAC buses.

The populist scheme is bleeding the state transport undertaking (STU) as dues running in crores of rupees are yet to be reimbursed by the state government to the service providers. In case of the PRTC alone, the government owed over Rs 250 crore to it for providing free travel to women till last month. As per the inter-department arrangement, the funds were released by the Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development on the claim raised by the STU.

Women are now travelling more in government buses, especially those from lower income groups, but the scheme is bleeding the STU. The increase in the number of women travellers, who avail of free bus service, has resulted in mounting dues and expenditure. This has also resulted in the income from bus passes coming down drastically.

A senior government official said the issue was being discussed and nothing concrete had been finalised yet.