Pink Buses rolled out in Chennai

Chepauk MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday flagged off about 60 ‘pink buses’ from Anna square bus stop in the city. The ordinary buses where women are entitled to free travel are painted in pink to help them differentiate it from express and deluxe buses where they have to buy tickets. 

In the manifesto of the state assembly election, DMK Chief MK Stalin had announced that his government would provide free travel to women in government buses if they are elected to power. Subsequently, after assuming the government, the state transport department had announced that women can travel for free in ordinary city/town buses and since then, there has been an increase in the footfall of women passengers in MTC buses. 

A recent study revealed that the scheme has helped women, travelling by bus, to save about Rs 1000 per month. However, there seems to be confusion in differentiating the ordinary bus from other ones and women often, endup in getting into other buses and buying tickets. To ease the confusion and to help them identify the ordinary buses, the transport department has painted the buses in pink colour.