What fee ride scheme in the MTC buses in Chennai has done for the women passengers?
Posted on: 26/Nov/2022 9:45:58 AM
From the report submitted by Mr. Jeyarajan, economist and vice-chairman of state planning commission to the CM of Tamil Nadu Mr. MK. Stalin, it was confirmed that women passengers who use the Zero Ticket Bus Travel or ZTBT scheme were saving 8% to 12% of their monthly income.
It is worth mentioning that in 2021 the TN government launched a scheme for women in the government buses and this after the decline in the work participation rates of women.
Every day, more than 7lak women travel in the MTC buses in Chennai. The state planning commission undertook a study to know about the impact of the scheme. Three bus routes covering different parts of Chennai were considered. Information was collected from as manyas 417 passengers who use MTC buses.
With the help of the ZTBT scheme, on an average a woman passenger would be able to save Rs 858 for 50 trips in a month. As per the report, those women who earned below Rs 5000 per month saved around 28% of their income and others saved 8% to 12% of their monthly income.
Point is that most women who saved money used that to buy groceries and vegetables etc and few women also bought gold and the saved money used for their kids education etc. There were also some women who used the saved money for LPG cylinders. It is true that the ZTBT scheme helped many women to overcome the impact of retail inflation.
It was revealed by the report that the frequency of the bus has come down. The MTC claimed that more demand has led to more stops and the average time taken to complete the trips have increased. The TN government must address the issue as soon as possible as the delay has made some to shift to expensive and faster modes of travel.
