Free Bus Rides Offer Indian Women New Option for Work, and Play
In a country with one of the world’s lowest female labor participation rates, states are trying to give women more freedom to move around.
Commuters at a bus stop in New Delhi. The free-ride policy aims to lift the number of females in the labor force by making it easier for women to work and travel.
Photographer: Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Chikamma travels half an hour every day from her home in a village on the outskirts of Bengaluru to work as a domestic helper in Yelahanka, close to the city’s airport.
For more than a decade, 39-year-old Chikamma, who only uses her first name, has taken the bus, which eats up a chunk of her 20,000 rupee ($240.45) monthly wages. Since the Karnataka state government made the public buses free to women in June, she has been able to save about 1,500 rupees a month.