Over 3.20L women issued pink tickets under free-ride scheme

Under the Delhi government's free travel scheme for women in public buses, over 3.20 lakh female commuters were issued pink tickets in the morning shift of eight hours on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a ride on a public bus and claimed that women were happy with his government's scheme.

The women passengers who availed the benefit of the scheme and were issued pink tickets (single journey passes) comprised nearly 29 per cent of the total 1107949 ticketed passengers in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses, said a government official.

The free ride scheme launched on the occasion of Bhai Dooj was availed by over 4.77 lakh female commuters of DTC buses on Tuesday, Kejriwal said.

The number of total ticketed passengers who travelled in DTC buses in the morning shift, 6 am to 2 pm, was over 7.44 lakh out of which over 2.84 lakh women commuters were issued pink tickets, said a DTC official.

In case of cluster buses run by Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS), the total number of passengers were 3.63 lakh out of which 72105 females were given pink tickets.

Each pink ticket has a face value of Rs 10 and is issued by a conductor under the scheme. The free-ride scheme is optional and a woman may also buy tickets if she so likes.

Kejriwal, who travelled on DTC and cluster buses to get feedback of women commuters, said "all my sisters in Delhi are now VIPs. Earlier only politicians would get to travel free."
After his bus journey, Kejriwal in response to a tweet, said, "I boarded a few buses just now to get direct feedback from women. In addition to students, working women, women going for shopping, I also met a few who have to visit doc (doctor) regularly."
In another tweet, the chief minister said the presence of bus marshals deployed by the Aam Aadmi Party government was creating a sense of safety among women passengers and "fear amongst eve-teasers."