Public transport ridership in Karnataka set another record on Tuesday as more than 1.16 crore people travelled by RTC buses, including 51.52 lakh women under the Shakti scheme.
The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) alone ferried 40.17 lakh people. Over half (20.56 lakh) were women who used the free bus travel scheme.
The KSRTC ridership stood at 38.27 lakh, including 13.97 lakh under the Shakti scheme. The NWKRTC ferried 22.53 lakh and the KKRTC 15.67 lakh passengers, including 11.08 lakh and 5.89 lakh, respectively, under the scheme.
The scheme cost the state government Rs 10.82 crore on Tuesday and Rs 21.05 crore in the first three days.
If Tuesday's ridership is anything to go by, the scheme will cost the government nearly Rs 4,000 crore annually, roughly the same as estimated (Rs 4,051.56 crore).
On the flip side, increased ridership has caused bus overcrowding, especially in North Karnataka.
The BMTC's Tuesday ridership (40.17 lakh) is among the highest, a senior official said. The highest-ever ridership was clocked on August 15, 2022, when the BMTC carried 62 lakh passengers as it offered free rides to the public to commemorate the 75th year of Indian independence.
With the Shakti scheme generating sustained demand, the BMTC will consider increasing or rationalising bus schedules, a senior official said. The transporter ran 5,555 bus schedules on Tuesday and 5,554 on Wednesday.
"We will wait at least 15 days. Initial trends can be misleading. We need to observe passenger movements and their destination. Only then can we increase schedules or make other changes," the official told DH.
Metro ridership unaffected
Not only did Namma Metro ridership remain unaffected, it actually saw a marginal increase on the first two weekdays (June 12 and 13) of the Shakti scheme.
Metro trains carried 6.32 lakh passengers on June 12 and 6.15 lakh on June 13. The ridership on June 11, the first day of the scheme, was 5.18 lakh.
Metro's daily average ridership was 5.70 lakh in April and 5.62 lakh in May, data shows.
Compared with June 5 and 6 figures, ridership for the first two weekdays has remained constant. There's actually a slight uptick, said B L Yashavanth Chavan, Chief Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
He, however, said it was too early to reach conclusions. "We need data for longer periods," he added.