UP Extends Free Bus Travel To Women Above 60; Aadhaar, Voter ID Enough To Avail Facility

Lucknow, August 28: The Yogi Government has started the facility of free travel in ordinary buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation for women aged 60 years and above across the state. As another major relief for these women, the government has decided that they will not have to wait for any special card to avail themselves of this facility. Eligible women passengers will be able to travel free of cost in buses from Friday (August 28) by showing their Aadhaar Card or Voter ID Card to establish their age. This arrangement has been implemented under the ‘Lokmata Ahilyabai Matru Shakti Yatra Yojana’.

According to the Transport Corporation, during the journey, an eligible woman will have to show her Aadhaar Card or Voter ID Card to the conductor. The conductor will verify the age based on the date of birth recorded in the document and issue a zero-value ticket through the ETIM machine. No fare will be charged from the woman passenger for this ticket. The ticket will contain necessary details including the bus number, place of commencement of the journey and destination.

The Transport Corporation said, "This free travel facility will be valid in the ordinary category of both Corporation-operated and contracted buses. Issuing a zero-value ticket for every free journey will be mandatory so that a complete record of the journey remains digitally available on the MIS/cloud-based data server. This will help maintain transparency in the implementation of the scheme and facilitate monitoring of travel-related data."

The Transport Corporation will separately undertake the process of issuing smart cards to eligible beneficiaries. However, a smart card has not been made mandatory for immediate access to free travel. At present, women can avail themselves of the scheme by establishing their eligibility through an Aadhaar Card or Voter ID Card. The Corporation has directed all conductors to be informed about the eligibility criteria and document verification process under the scheme.

According to the Corporation's instructions, no fare shall be demanded or collected from an eligible woman passenger under the scheme. If fare is wrongly collected from an eligible woman, action will be taken. Regional officers and depot in-charges will conduct regular monitoring to ensure transparency in the implementation of the scheme.If you want, I can also make this more publication-ready in standard UP government press release English while keeping every fact and figure unchanged.