Indore: Indore has added yet another feather to its cap with the first-ever woman driving a public bus in the country in which all the passengers were women too! The record was made in the city on Thursday morning. Ritu Narwale from Indore drove the 'pink' i-bus on BRTS for the first time in the state. After several days of training, Ritu operated the bus for the first time by seating female passengers. More than 50 women passengers travelled on this bus. The trial run started at 7 am on Thursday.
In order to provide safe and convenient public transport facility to the women of the city, AICTSL, in February 2020, commissioned pink buses in the BRTS corridor. The plan was that, in these special buses run for women, the drivers and conductors would also be women, but due to a lack of women drivers, these buses were being operated by male drivers for a long time.
But, some time ago, after the management found two women bus drivers, AICTSL started training them. After a month of training, when a female driver, Ritu Narwale, seemed prepared, the first-ever ride was organised. Ritu was tested to drive, and she passed with flying colours. Finally, she was given the opportunity to drive a bus for passengers for the first time after two hours of training between 3 am and 5 am on Thursday morning.Women passengers happy too: AICTSL spokesperson Mala Thakur said that women passengers were happy to see a woman bus driver for the first time in pink bus. “Ritu has become first woman driver to run state's first passenger bus,” Thakur said. 'I'll take a trip in a few days with Ritu. Then, she'll be given a chance to run the bus full time. The training of the second woman driver, Archana, is also going on. Soon, she, too, will start running buses with passengers seated,' said Sandeep Soni, CEO, AICTSL.
