UP Women Aged 60 and Above Get Free Travel on Ordinary UPSRTC Buses
Resident women of Uttar Pradesh aged 60 years and above can now travel free on ordinary buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. The facility, named the Lokmata Ahilya Bai Matru Shakti Yatra Yojana, takes effect from 28 August after the governor approved the provision, transport minister of state (independent charge) Dayashankar Singh said in Lucknow.
To board, a woman has to show her Aadhaar card or voter identity card. The conductor then issues a zero-fare ticket through the Electronic Ticket Issuing Machine. That ticket will carry the bus number, the starting point and the destination, so the journey is recorded even though no cash changes hands.
In Short
- The scheme covers ordinary UPSRTC buses for resident women of Uttar Pradesh aged 60 and above, from 28 August.
- Aadhaar or voter ID is enough for a zero-fare ETIM ticket that lists the bus number and the route.
- UPSRTC will send a monthly verified statement of free journeys to the transport department, which will reimburse the corporation directly.
How the ticket is issued
The instruction is meant to keep the concession on the existing conductor’s machine, not on a separate counter. Singh said a zero-fare ETIM ticket is generated against the identity document. The printout still shows the bus number and the origin and destination of that ride. That gives UPSRTC a machine record of who travelled, on which service, and over which stretch, without collecting cash at the door.
Separate instructions on smart cards for beneficiaries will be issued later, if the department decides they are needed. For now, the identity card in a woman’s purse is the pass.
The scheme is limited to ordinary UPSRTC buses. It does not, on the wording released in Lucknow, extend to luxury or Volvo services, city metro, or private operators. Commuters who already felt the squeeze on ordinary services during the Raksha Bandhan rush on Lucknow’s bus network will watch whether extra ordinary buses are added once the concession is live.
Who pays UPSRTC
The corporation will not absorb the lost fare as a standing loss. Singh said UPSRTC will calculate actual free travel data and the matching reimbursement. Every month it will send the transport department a consolidated, verified statement of free journeys, the amount due, and actual expenditure. On that statement, the government will release reimbursement funds directly to UPSRTC.
That accounting line matters in Lucknow, where depot occupancy at Charbagh railway station and ordinary services through Hazratganj already run close to capacity on festival and office days. If the monthly claim is slow, depots may cut ordinary frequency rather than add it. If it is prompt, the concession can sit on the existing fleet without a fare fight at the door.
City traffic already mixes rain, diversions and protest closures, as recorded in Lucknow traffic chaos from rain, a road cave-in and protest. A zero-fare ticket does not shorten a jam. It does change who can afford the ordinary bus when a two-wheeler is not an option.
What riders should carry
- Aadhaar or voter ID, with a photograph that matches the passenger.
- The destination they want printed on the ETIM ticket, so the record is complete.
- Patience on ordinary services only. Ask the conductor before boarding if the bus is a covered type.
- Keep the zero-fare ticket until the end of the ride. Checking staff can ask for both the ticket and the identity card.
The concession is statewide on UPSRTC ordinary buses, so a woman travelling from Lucknow to a district depot is covered in the same way as a city hop, provided the bus is an ordinary corporation service. Civic works that already slow ordinary routes, including the Lucknow Cantonment infrastructure package, will still decide how long that ride takes.
UPSRTC has not, in the announcement, published a daily cap, a distance cap, or a list of excluded ordinary routes. Until those notes appear, the published rule is simple: resident woman, 60 or older, ordinary UPSRTC bus, identity card, zero-fare ETIM ticket.
Why it matters
For older women in Lucknow and across Uttar Pradesh, the ordinary bus is often the only public ride they take without asking a relative. A documented zero-fare ticket on the existing machine is easier to use than a smart card that has not been issued yet. The monthly reimbursement to UPSRTC is the part that will decide whether ordinary frequency holds after the first rush of claims.
Sources: Times of India
