Delhi government, Aam Aadmi Party is looking to make metro and bus travel free for women in Delhi ahead of assembly polls next year. The main motive to make travel free for women is ‘to encourage them to use public transport’.
In a public meeting set in Delhi, the Chief Minister said, “The government is considering to waive fare for women in DTC buses and Delhi Metro to encourage them to use public transport in view of their safety.”
He also mentioned that his government is in touch with the city’s power regulator to bring down the fixed charge component of the electricity bill.
According to a Delhi government official, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot has already taken meetings to discuss several perspectives of fare-waiver to women in all public transport buses whether run by DTC or DIMTS and Delhi metro.
A senior official said, “Besides other factors like technical and financial feasibility of such a move, the persisting disagreements between the two sides may also play a crucial role in going ahead with the proposal for giving a free ride to women in Metro trains.”
However, the Transports Department officials confirmed the allowance of free travel of women in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses run by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal System (DIMTS) may not be difficult but it would be ‘challenging’ to do the same in metro trains.
Delhi government and the Centre are 50:50 equity partners in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. “Next month the new tariff is to be fixed. We have asked the DERC to bring back fixed charges to previous levels and they are likely to agree to it,” he said.
