Record surge in women patronage in KSRTC on Priyadarshini scheme’s inaugural day

The inaugural day of the Priyadarshini scheme, which was implemented on KSRTC Ordinary buses by the State government from Monday (June 15), witrnessed an unprecedented level of ridership among women passengers. The corporation issued tickets to a total of 13.29 lakh women passengers, an increase of 81% in comparison to the 7.34 lakh women passengers who travelled on the same day the previous week (June 8).

Of the 13.29 lakh women passengers who travelled on the opening day of the scheme, zero-fare tickets were issued to 7.83 lakh women, enabling them to avail themselves of the scheme’s benefits.

At the same time, the number of male passengers dipped to 2,26,673 on Monday, compared to 6,94,799 male passengers on June 8. While the number of women passengers increased by 5,95,245 on Monday, the number of male passengers decreased by 4,68,126, a drop of 67%.

However, the total number of commuters witnessed only a slight increase, with 15,56,611 passengers travelling on June 15 compared to 14,29,492 on June 8. Revenue collection also dropped to ₹2.79 crore on June 15 from ₹3.23 crore on June 8.

The KSRTC incurred a revenue loss of ₹2.20 crore on the first day following the launch of the scheme. However, the State government will compensate for the loss.

According to the officials, the increase in the number of women passengers and the corresponding decline in male passengers were due to higher seat occupancy by women availing themselves of the scheme, prompting many male passengers to opt for other categories of buses.

Under the ‘Priyadarshini’ scheme, women and transgender persons can travel free of charge on seven categories of KSRTC services: Ordinary, City Ordinary, limited-stop Ordinary, fair-stage Ordinary, town-to-town, point-to-point, and Gramavandi services. The scheme, which was promised in the UDF’s election manifesto, was launched by Chief Minister V.D. Satheeshan on Monday.