Hyderabad: The Telangana Road and Transport Services (TSRTC) launched a men-exclusive bus service to manage passenger traffic on a specific route in the city.
The TSRTC on Thursday, February 1, launched its first “men-exclusive” service on the Ibrahimpatnam-LB Nagar route to manage heavy crowds of youngsters, who use the RTC buses to travel to colleges during rush hours.
Speaking to Siasat.com, a TSRTC official said that a single bus service exclusively for men has been launched on the route as several engineering colleges fall on the route. Currently, one bus goes to and fro between LB Nagar and Ibrahimpatnam. “We launched the service exclusively to meet the demands of engineering college students. The first bus starts at 8:30 am and returns at 4:30 pm on the route,” said the official.
The TSRTC launched this service after a spike in the number of women using TRSTC buses owing to the free bus ride scheme launched by the Congress government.
After taking charge of office on December 7, the Congress government enacted their poll promise of free bus rides for women across the state, on specified buses, under the Mahalaxmi Scheme.
Nearly 31% more women have been using Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses for commuting in Hyderabad since the Mahalakshmi scheme was introduced by the Congress government, a recent survey by the Helping Hand Foundation, a city-based NGO, revealed.
The percentage of women using TSRTC buses for their daily commute surged from 52% to 81% after the launch of the scheme. The survey saw participation of 3,530 women across various health institutions in the city, indicating that nearly half of the increase in bus travel was for medical purposes, including outpatient consultations and antenatal care.
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