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Kerala govt free bus travel for women worries private operators
If the government introduces free travel for women, private operators will not be able to buy diesel or even pay for their staff, said an official from Kerala bus operators organisation
- PUBLISHED: Tue 19 May 2026, 5:20 PM
Concerns are being raised in Kerala about the impact of the new government’s promise to ensure free bus travel for women in the state-run Kerala State Transport Corporation (KSRTC), with fears about the impact on the company, already reeling under a severe crisis.
Private bus operators, who have a strong presence in the state, are also worried that the move would ‘destroy’ the sector.
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One of the first decisions of the new United Democratic Front (UDF) government, led by the Congress, which was sworn in on Monday, was to announce free bus travel for women in KSRTC, effective June 15.
Chief minister V.D. Satheesan’s new government said it was one of the five ‘Indira guarantees’ promised by the UDF in its election manifesto. The other four include monthly allowance of Rs1,000 (about Dh38.15) for college-going girls, increase in social welfare pension from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 (Dh76 to Dh114), interest-free loans of up to Rs500,000 (Dh19,000) for young entrepreneurs and a dedicated department for the welfare of senior citizens.
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The cash-strapped KSRTC, which will now have to bear the additional burden of providing free services to women commuters, is hugely dependent on funding from the cash-strapped state government.
The KSRTC operates just 4,000 buses (as against 7,000 by private operators) and over 1,250 of the buses are more than 15 years old. The operator has massive operating costs including wages for 22,000 permanent employees and almost double the number of pensioners.
The previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government injected a massive Rs140 billion (about Dh5.35 billion) into the loss-making enterprise in the past 10 years, but it failed to rescue the operator.
According to government sources, about two million passengers travel by KSRTC buses daily and about half of them are women, who will now not have to pay any fares. The corporation’s daily revenues of Rs75.3 million (about Dh2.85 million) will now get slashed by half.
“If women are allowed free travel in KSRTC buses, then they will not opt for private buses,” T. Gopinathan, general secretary, All Kerala Bus Operators Organisation, told reporters on Tuesday.
“Most people in the state depend on private buses. And if the government introduces free travel for women, private operators will not be able to buy diesel or even pay for their staff. The industry will be finished if the scheme is implemented," he added.
Gopinathan said many bus owners will now have to opt for distress sale of their vehicles, getting barely half the amount they invested in the buses. “The government must consider the future of private operators and their workers,” he added.
Private bus operators accuse political parties of making promises just to get votes in elections, without thinking of the consequences on the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the state.
