Number of pink passes for women in DTC, cluster buses touches 1 bn mark

The number of pink passes given to women travelling in state run buses has touched the 100-crore mark, an official statement said on Friday.

The city government said Delhi was the first in India to initiate free travel for women on such a large scale and highlighted that 25 per cent women travelled in state run buses in 2020-21 while the figure increased to 33 per cent in 2022-23.

If the ridership of Delhi buses (DTC and DIMTS combined) is to be seen, it is slowly inching back towards the pre-Covid numbers, the statement said.

In 2019-20, Delhi buses had a ridership of more than 160 crore. Due to the Covid pandemic, it dropped to 71 crore in 2020-21 but recovered slightly to 93 crore in 2021-22, it said.

Since April 2022 till today, it has reached nearly 125 crore, almost 75 per cent of the pre-Covid numbers.

Across these years, since the beginning of free travel for women in October 2019, the pink ticket ridership has grown from 25 per cent in 2020-21 and 28 per cent in 2021-22 to nearly 33 per cent in 2022-23 till date.

In 2022, the DTC and the DIMTS buses combined saw an average daily ridership of 36 lakh, hitting as high as 40 lakh daily in a few months.

In the same year, free travel for women via pink tickets contributed to nearly 32 per cent of the total number of passengers travelling in a month, the statement said.

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot termed it an "important milestone" not just for the government but for all the citizens of Delhi.

"Under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi has shown how free travel can empower the women in the city. The rising number of women bus travellers over the years shows the impact it has created and how much they have benefited from this scheme," Gahlot said.

"Delhi government has spent Rs 1,000 crores on the pink passes issued over these years, Gahlot added.

Participation of women in the workforce is a critical driver of social advancement and economic expansion. In order to promote women's mobility, all Delhi government-operated buses offered free transit to women, the statement said.

All Delhi buses are equipped with a Global Positioning System device, CCTV cameras, panic buttons along with bus marshalls. It widens the window of opportunity for women to join the workforce, it said.