Zero tickets trigger 1,000-watt smiles

BENGALURU: Surprise turned into broad smiles as women who boarded BMTC buses on Sunday found out that they did not have to pay for their travel. Although the implementation of the Shakti scheme was publicised, the joy of finally availing the benefit was palpable.
The government’s Shakti free travel scheme kicked in exactly at 1pm but not all women could avail ‘zero tickets’ on the first day.At least 10% of women commuters on a Hebbal-Majestic route had no idea about the scheme and were not carrying ID proofs on their person — a requisite to show they were residents of the state.
Yashaswini M, 19, a student from Madanayakanahalli who travels daily from Jalahalli to Nelamangala and forks out Rs 30 each way, said the new rule will be very beneficial for women, especially college students.
“It will make travel easy for us during exams,” she said. Devi, 40, who was unaware of the scheme until the conductor told her about it said, “I think the facility should be extended to all senior citizens, irrespective of gender or identity documents. I feel it will be more beneficial for them.”
Bus stops were crowded but it was hard to say if the crowd was just the usual Sunday rush of travellers returning from a weekend away, or women waiting to try out the Shakti scheme. “We will know the real status on Monday,” said BMTC staffers at KR Puram bus depot. “Many are unaware of the scheme, so perhaps more people will start using buses once the news spreads. Our problem is that it is hard to verify identity cards. There are a lot of people from outside Karnataka, and even permanent residents take time to find IDs on their phones. It slows down our work since we must check and issue tickets to all of them.”
Siddalingappa, a bus conductor on the Koramangala-Shantinagar route, was happy that the scheme was implemented. In a lighter vein, he said, “The scheme has also reduced the burden on us, as we do not have to worry about giving change back to women passengers now.”
(Inputs from Thejalakshmi, Shivika Kumar, Aditi Singh, Deepanka HS & Bhavana Sarangi)