Karnataka plans smart cards for over 3 crore women using free bus travel scheme

The Karnataka government will issue free smart cards to women travelling under the Shakti Scheme to make travel on state-run buses more seamless, Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh announced on Monday.

The minister said more than three crore women beneficiaries across the state are expected to receive the cards. The government will provide the smart cards free of cost to women, while men will be able to obtain rechargeable cards by paying a fee, similar to Metro cards.

“These cards will need to be recharged once the balance is exhausted.”

The announcement came as Suresh also unveiled plans to procure 5,000 new buses to strengthen public transport services across Karnataka.

Speaking after a review meeting with senior officials of KSRTC, BMTC, KKRTC and NWKRTC, the minister said the additional buses would be inducted in phases and distributed among the four state-run transport corporations to meet rising passenger demand following the Shakti Scheme.

According to Suresh, the scheme, which provides free bus travel for women, has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in ridership since its launch.

To streamline the scheme and improve passenger tracking, the government has decided to introduce smart cards for women commuters.

Since around three crore smart cards need to be issued, the government plans to invite tenders for their production. The transport department will soon float a global tender and launch a pilot project before implementing the initiative across the state.

The minister said officials have been instructed to begin the smart card distribution process soon under the pilot project.

On fleet expansion, Suresh said the state government will purchase 1,000 new buses through state funding, while 4,000 electric buses will be acquired with assistance from the central government.

The buses will be inducted in phases and allocated among KSRTC, BMTC, KKRTC and NWKRTC.

Passenger safety, particularly for women and girls, will remain a priority, the minister said. He directed officials to speed up the installation of Vehicle Location Tracking Systems (VLTS) in commercial passenger vehicles, including taxis and other transport services.

More than one lakh vehicles have already been fitted with the system, while the remaining four to five lakh vehicles are expected to be covered within the next three to four months.