Shakti scheme – the Congress government’s flagship guarantee scheme that offers free travel for women in State transport buses – has reached a new milestone, completing 500 crore women passengers.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) organised a programme to commemorate the special occasion with women commuters at the sub-urban bus stand.
Karnataka State Guarantee Scheme Implementation Committee vice-chairperson Pushpa Amarnath symbolically distributed zero tickets to women passengers to mark the milestone.
Speaking to reporters, she said the achievement of 500 crore Shakti users was being celebrated across the State. “Some buses in districts and taluks have been specially decorated, and sweets were distributed to women passengers to celebrate the success of the scheme, which was the first to be launched after the Congress government came to power,” she said.
The government has spent around ₹16,662 crore on the Shakti scheme so far, with nearly 31 crore women commuters under the scheme in Mysuru district alone.
From June 11, 2023, to June 30, 2025, 66.51% of passengers were women who availed themselves of the free travel facility. Out of 46.67 crore total travellers in Mysuru district during this period, 31.04 crore were women passengers. The KSRTC earned a revenue of ₹776.48 crore by ferrying women passengers under the scheme.
The revenue earned was ₹246.77 crore in 2023, ₹404.77 crore in 2024, and ₹124.94 crore so far in 2025. Till June 2025, 4.24 crore women have travelled under the scheme in the district.
The percentage of Shakti travellers was 58.79% in 2023, 70.81% in 2024, and 74.36% so far in 2025 in Mysuru district.
The KSRTC’s rural and urban divisions together have a fleet of 1,308 buses, including 751 buses in rural transport and 557 in urban transport.
KSRTC Divisional Controller (rural division) Srinivas and other officials of the KSRTC were present.
Published – July 14, 2025 06:09 pm IST
