Mumbai: 300 ‘women-only’ Tejaswini buses to hit roads in ’17

[jwplayer kCkuXbQJ-xe0BVfqu

The service has been introduced citing difficulties faced by thousands of women commuters who take buses during peak hours. The state government has decided to provide an initial financial assistance of Rs 50 crore. The total cost for purchasing 300 buses is Rs 90 crore. “Tejaswini buses will start plying from early 2017. Its a New Year’s gift to the women commuters from the respective municipal corporation. In the first phase, we are starting the service only in five cities,” said Manisha Mhaiskar, Principal Secretary of Urban Development Department.

The initiative was part of the state government’s budget announcements. State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, in his budget speech, had mentioned that difficulties faced by the women commuters had become a cause of concern for the state government and the state government planned to ease these problems.

In Mumbai, the BEST will operate the service, a move that has been welcomed by the undertaking. However, there is no clarity yet on how many of the 300 buses Mumbai would get.

The BEST already runs women-only buses on many routes in the city. According to a BEST official, currently it runs 74 trips of ‘ladies special’ buses and 60 trips of ‘ladies first’ buses, in which women commuters get first preference for boarding at the point of origin.