The Mahalakshmi scheme offering free bus travel to women, introduced by Revanth Reddy Government in Telangana has become a super success. Since the launch of scheme on Dec 9, 2023, women have travelled 125.50 Cr free trips, costing about Rs 4,225 Cr till now. Almost all the women in state have utilized the scheme multiple times till now, benefitting from the populist scheme.

Mahalakshmi free bus travel initiative has become such a big success that the number of passengers travelling in Telangana Road Transport Corporation (TGRTC) buses increased by a whopping 27 percent. About 45 lakh passengers used to travel in RTC buses every day in Telangana before the introduction of scheme. After its launch, the number rose to 58 lakh passengers daily, highlighting the impact of scheme.

Mahalakshmi scheme has also shown huge impact on the economic and social lives of Telangana women. According to the report of Transport Ministry, while women used to be 40 percent of passengers using RTC buses in Telangana earlier, after the introduction of Mahalakshmi scheme, the percentage rose to 65 percent.

The impact of Mahalakshmi women free bus travel has been so sensational that Revanth Sarkar has to introduce new buses to cater to the increased demand. TGRTC introduced 1389 new buses into service in 2024.

“Keeping up our poll promise, we have launched Mahalakshmi free bus travel for women within two days of forming Government. RTC offered 125.50 Cr free trips to Telangana women, amounting up to Rs 4,225 Cr. These figures show how big a success Mahalakshmi scheme is,” said Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, commenting on the scheme.

“Mahalakshmi scheme has been helping women to save expenses on travel, thus contributing to their savings. This is not just helping Telangana women financially but also leading to rise of revenue for TGRTC, as Government is reimbursing Mahalakshmi zero tickets to TGRTC from time to time,” explained Ponnam Prabhakar, highlighting the positive contribution of Mahalakshmi scheme.