Tamil Nadu CM Vijay turns bus conductor, hands out tickets

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay briefly turned bus conductor on Friday, handing out free tickets to women passengers as he launched a major expansion of the state’s free bus travel scheme.

Vijay was seen aboard a government bus in Chennai interacting with passengers and distributing tickets after launching the expanded Vetri Payanam scheme on Gandhi Jayanti, according to the Times of India.

The chief minister’s turn as a conductor quickly became the visual highlight of the launch, with passengers recording the moment on their phones. College students travelling on the bus were also seen interacting with Vijay and offering him chocolates, the report said.

According to DT Next, Vijay issued free tickets to women travelling on the 76B service between Koyambedu and Kancheepuram at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus.

What is the Vetri Payanam scheme?

• What is it? An expanded Tamil Nadu government programme providing free bus travel for women and transgender people on designated state-run services.

• What’s new? Free travel now includes Express, LSS and Deluxe buses in metropolitan and urban areas, Mofussil Ordinary buses and Ghat Ordinary services operating beyond 40km.

• How many buses? 12,692 buses operated by seven state transport corporations.

• How many beneficiaries? The government estimates around 8.43 million women could benefit every day.

• How extensive is it? The covered buses represent about 69 per cent of the seven corporations’ scheduled fleet and around 85 per cent of scheduled single trips.

• Why was it expanded? The government says wider free travel will help women and students reach workplaces, colleges, hospitals and other essential services.

Wider choice of buses

The expanded scheme significantly increases the range of government buses on which women can travel without paying a fare.

Previously, women could travel free mainly on ordinary buses operating in metropolitan and urban areas and ordinary buses on hill routes for distances of up to 40km.

Under Vetri Payanam, free travel has been extended to Express, Limited Stop Service (LSS) and Deluxe buses operating in metropolitan and urban areas. It also covers Mofussil Ordinary services and Ghat Ordinary buses operating on routes beyond 40km.

A total of 12,692 buses operated by seven state transport corporations have been brought under the expanded scheme, according to the Tamil Nadu government. The government estimates that around 8.43 million women will benefit from the facility every day.

The New Indian Express reported that the buses covered by Vetri Payanam account for around 69 per cent of the 18,413 scheduled buses operated by the seven state transport undertakings. They will operate 165,312 of the state’s 194,649 scheduled single trips each day, or about 85 per cent of the total.

Access to jobs, colleges

Tamil Nadu Transport Minister A. Vijay Tamilan Parthiban said the expansion was intended to widen access to public transport, particularly for students travelling to colleges far from home and women travelling to workplaces, hospitals and for other essential services, The New Indian Express reported.

Electronic ticketing machines on the buses have also been integrated with the scheme to record the free journeys.

The free-travel facility extends to transgender people on designated services as well.

The expanded programme builds on the state’s existing free bus travel scheme, under which women were allowed to travel without charge on ordinary city and town buses and eligible hill services.

Vijay had announced the expansion in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on August 24.