The Lift Line
“This suggests that free buses have made it easier for women to step out of their homes, but getting a job depends on other things as well, such as whether there is work nearby, whether childcare is available and whether the journey is safe.” (Sravani Venkatraju, The Hindu, 26 October 2026, print)
Why This Editorial Matters for Your Exam
In the news: In The Hindu of 26 October 2026 (print), Sravani Venkatraju compares the two all-India Time Use Surveys and finds that women’s travel went up in four States that offer free bus rides to women, but that paid work has not followed so far.
For an earlier use of the same survey, see our page on an editorial about work from home, public space and safety.
UPSC relevance:
- GS Paper 1: role of women; social empowerment; the care burden and women’s work.
- GS Paper 2: welfare schemes for vulnerable sections and their performance; evidence-based evaluation of schemes.
- Prelims: the Time Use Survey (NSO, MoSPI): rounds, coverage, method and ICATUS 2016; paid and unpaid work; the State free-bus schemes.
- Essay and Interview: mobility as freedom; “freebie” or public investment.
The Crux in 60 Words
Four States made ordinary government buses free for women between 2021 and 2023. Comparing the 2019 and 2024 Time Use Surveys, Sravani Venkatraju finds that women’s trips rose faster there than men’s, and faster than elsewhere, led by care and social trips. Paid work did not rise faster: buses help women step out, but jobs need more.
Free bus travel widens where women can go, but turning that mobility into paid work needs jobs, childcare and safety as well.
- In the four free-bus States, women’s trips rose faster than men’s, while in the 12 other large States studied, men’s rose faster.
- Telangana saw women’s trips rise sharply after its scheme began, while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, whose scheme came only after the 2024 survey, stayed almost flat.
- The biggest rise was in trips for care, such as dropping children at school or taking a family member to hospital, along with social, religious and leisure trips.
The figures are the author’s own before-after comparison across groups of States, not an official evaluation; paid work rose slightly more in States without free buses; and the schemes carry a fiscal cost that the column does not weigh.
Keep free travel but pair it with what the author lists, work nearby, childcare and safe journeys; plan routes and timings around care trips; and publish State-wise survey data so that the schemes can be evaluated.
Background and Context
The schemes
| State | Scheme | Free travel for women began | Source of the date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab | Free travel in government buses (PRTC, PUNBUS and city buses; AC, Volvo and HVAC buses excluded) | 1 April 2021 | The Tribune, 5 April 2021 (launch date); ThePrint, 31 March 2021 (bus categories) |
| Tamil Nadu | Vidiyal Payanam (zero-fare travel in ordinary state-owned buses) | 8 May 2021; widened to more bus categories on 2 October 2026 (12,695 of 18,413 buses) | The News Minute, 7 May 2021; DT Next, 2 October 2026 |
| Karnataka | Shakti | 11 June 2023 | The South First and Deccan Herald, 11 June 2023 |
| Telangana | Mahalakshmi | 9 December 2023 | Telangana Chief Minister’s website |
| Andhra Pradesh (comparison State) | Stree Shakti | 15 August 2025, after the 2024 survey | Deccan Herald (PTI), 15 August 2025 |
Tamil Nadu’s widening of October 2026 came after both survey rounds, so it has no bearing on the results below.
The survey
| Round | Field period | Results released | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| First all-India TUS | January to December 2019 | PIB, 29 September 2020 | 1,38,799 households; 4,47,250 persons aged 6 and above |
| Second all-India TUS | January to December 2024 | Fact sheet, 25 February 2025; report “Time Use in India, 2024”, 28 March 2025 | 1,39,487 households; 4,54,192 persons aged 6 and above |
The survey covers everyone aged 6 and above. The column’s age band of 15 to 59 is the author’s own subset of the data.
The Analysis
The author’s argument
The test. “Since travel went up in almost every State after the pandemic years,” Venkatraju writes, it is more useful to check whether women’s travel grew faster than men’s within the same State. By that test, all four free-bus States pass.
The numbers. Her own calculations from the survey data, for people aged 15-59 on the survey day:
| Measure, 2019 to 2024 | Four free-bus States | 12 other large States studied |
|---|---|---|
| Women who made at least one trip | 38.7% to 45.3%: up 6.6 percentage points | up 4.4 points |
| Men who made at least one trip | up 3.7 points | up 7.6 points |
| Women who travelled for paid work | up 2.3 points | up 1.2 points |
| Trips made for care | “nearly tripled” | not stated |
| Trips for social, religious and leisure purposes | increased | “remained the same” |
In most States without free buses, “including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh”, women’s travel grew slower than men’s; “Bihar was the only clear exception”. Women’s travel in the four States grew “about six percentage points more than in the other States, which is well beyond the survey’s margin of error”, she writes. Read against the table, her six-point figure is not the gap in women’s trip shares alone (up 6.6 points against 4.4, a gap of 2.2); it matches how women’s travel grew relative to men’s in each group: 2.9 points faster than men’s in the four States and 3.2 points slower in the others, a difference of about six points.
A natural comparison. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh “were one State till 2014”. Telangana’s scheme came before the 2024 survey; Andhra Pradesh’s came only in August 2025, “after the 2024 survey was over”. In 2019, 43.7 per cent of women in Telangana and 40.8 per cent in Andhra Pradesh had made a trip on the survey day; by 2024 the share was 54.6 per cent in Telangana, while Andhra Pradesh “stayed almost the same at 41.6%”.
When women travel. In the free-bus States, the share of women travelling rose most around 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., but also in the late morning and afternoon, “which are not usual office hours and are more likely to be the time for care and household work”.
The hedge. The author does not claim that free buses created jobs: “However, the data do not show a similar rise in paid work so far. The share of women aged 15-59 who did any paid work on the survey day rose from 30.5% to 34.4% in the free-bus States, which is about four points, but in the other States it rose slightly more, from 18.4% to 22.9%.”
What the official survey results add
The column’s State-group figures are not in MoSPI’s releases, but MoSPI’s all-India results explain why care trips matter so much:
- Care falls on women. In 2024, 41 per cent of women aged 15-59 took part in caregiving for household members, against 21.4 per cent of men (32.8 and 16.2 per cent in 2019). Women who took part spent about 140 minutes a day on it; men, 74.
- Domestic work too. 83.1 per cent of women, against 26.4 per cent of men, took part in domestic services for household members.
- Paid work is rising, from a low base. Women aged 15-59 taking part in employment and related activities rose from 21.8 per cent in 2019 to 25 per cent in 2024; men, from 70.9 to 75 per cent.
Where the column is strong, and where it stops
- Strong: it compares women with men in the same State, which nets out the general rise in travel after the pandemic; it uses Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as a natural pair; and it keeps the hedge on jobs rather than overselling the scheme.
- It is not an evaluation. It is a before-after comparison across two groups of States, by the author, from survey data. The four States may differ from the others in ways the comparison does not hold constant, and the trip figures are not official statistics.
- The base levels differ. Women’s paid-work share in the free-bus States started well above the other States’ (30.5 against 18.4 per cent), so equal gains in points mean different things.
- It does not weigh the cost. In a 2024 statement, the Punjab government put its spending on the scheme at Rs 1,548.25 crore for 32.46 crore journeys, counting year by year from March 2022. A fiscal view belongs in any answer on these schemes.
Way forward
Our analysis, built on the author’s hedge:
- Treat free travel as an enabler, not a jobs scheme. Pair it with what the author names: work nearby, childcare and a safe journey.
- Plan for care trips. The largest gains came outside office hours, so frequency and routes in the late morning and afternoon matter as much as the peaks.
- Evaluate with data. MoSPI’s unit-level survey data allow State-wise trip analysis; States that run these schemes can publish ridership and cost alongside it.
- Count the money. Budget for the fare loss openly, so that free travel does not starve the bus fleet it depends on.
Data and Institutions Vault
Prelims-grade facts:
Time Use Survey (TUS):
- Run by the National Statistical Office (NSO), MoSPI; two all-India rounds: January to December 2019 and January to December 2024
- Covers every household member aged 6 and above; 24 hours from 4:00 AM the previous day, in 48 half-hour slots
- 2024 sample: 1,39,487 households, 4,54,192 persons; 2019: 1,38,799 households, 4,47,250 persons
- TUS 2024 released as a fact sheet on 25 February 2025 and a full report, “Time Use in India, 2024”, on 28 March 2025
- Activities coded to ICATUS 2016, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission at its 48th session, 7 to 10 March 2017
Official results, ages 15-59, 2024 (2019):
- Employment and related activities: women 25% (21.8%), men 75% (70.9%)
- Caregiving for household members: women 41% (32.8%), men 21.4% (16.2%)
- Time on caregiving per participant: women about 140 minutes a day, men 74
- Production counted in national accounts (SNA): men 79.2%, women 43.4%; unpaid non-SNA work: men 45%, women 93.9%
The free-bus schemes:
- Punjab, 1 April 2021; Tamil Nadu, 8 May 2021 (Vidiyal Payanam)
- Karnataka Shakti, 11 June 2023; Telangana Mahalakshmi, 9 December 2023
- Andhra Pradesh Stree Shakti, 15 August 2025, after the 2024 survey
The column’s own figures (not official statistics):
- Women aged 15-59 making a trip, four free-bus States: 38.7% (2019) to 45.3% (2024)
- Women’s paid work on the survey day: 30.5% to 34.4% in free-bus States; 18.4% to 22.9% in the others
⚠️ Watch the trap:
- The survey covers ages 6 and above; the 15-59 band is an analyst’s subset
- The trip-share figures are the author’s calculations, not MoSPI tables
- Free bus travel is not shown to have raised women’s paid work faster
- Andhra Pradesh’s scheme did not exist at the time of the 2024 survey
- PIB names the body the National Statistical Office; the column writes “Statistics”
The Debate
| The case for free bus travel | The case for caution |
|---|---|
| Women’s trips rose faster than men’s in every free-bus State, against the trend elsewhere | Paid work rose slightly more in States without free buses |
| Care trips, such as school runs and hospital visits, nearly tripled: access to health and education is a gain in itself | The figures are one author’s comparison of two survey rounds, not an official evaluation |
| The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh contrast points to the scheme, not the post-pandemic rebound | The schemes cost States large sums, which compete with spending on buses, jobs or childcare |
| Mobility is a precondition for work, study and public life | Without work nearby, childcare and safe journeys, more trips will not become more jobs |
Balanced verdict: the evidence supports the claim the author actually makes, that free buses help women step out, and not the larger claim that they put women into jobs. An answer should credit the mobility gain and name the conditions that would turn it into work.
How to Think About This
- Mobility is not employment. A scheme can succeed on its own aim and still leave a larger goal unmet; judge it against both.
- Compare changes, within the same place. Comparing women’s gains with men’s in the same State strips out what changed for everyone, such as the rebound after the pandemic.
- Ask whose number it is. MoSPI’s headline results and an analyst’s calculations from the same survey are both useful, but only one is an official statistic.
Diagram-in-Words
Free bus travel for women: what the Time Use Survey shows
Covers the policy, the author’s test, what rose, what did not, and what jobs also need.
Read it from top to bottom: the policy, the test the author applies, what rose and what did not. The bottom row is what jobs also need, in the author’s words.
Several States now offer women free travel in government buses. Using evidence from the Time Use Surveys, examine the effect of such schemes on women's mobility and work, and suggest what else is needed to raise women's participation in paid work. (250 words)
Punjab and Tamil Nadu in 2021, and Karnataka and Telangana in 2023, made travel in ordinary government buses free for women; Andhra Pradesh followed in 2025. The schemes aim to help women reach jobs, colleges and hospitals, and the Time Use Surveys of 2019 and 2024 allow a first look at what changed.
The Time Use Survey of the National Statistical Office records how every household member aged 6 and above spends each half-hour of a day. Its official results show how unequal women’s time remains: in 2024, 41 per cent of women aged 15-59 took part in caregiving for household members against 21.4 per cent of men, and 25 per cent of women in that age group took part in employment and related activities against 75 per cent of men, up from 21.8 and 70.9 per cent in 2019.
Comparisons of the two rounds suggest that in free-bus States women’s travel rose faster than men’s, and faster than in other States, led by trips for care and for social, religious and leisure purposes. Telangana, with free travel from December 2023, saw a sharp rise that neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, without such a scheme at the time, did not.
Paid work, however, did not rise faster in the free-bus States than elsewhere. Mobility removes one barrier; others remain, such as distance to work, childcare and safety on the journey.
Free travel is best judged as an enabler of mobility, not a jobs scheme. To convert mobility into employment, States should pair it with local jobs, childcare and safe transport, plan bus routes and timings around care trips, and evaluate outcomes with published, State-wise survey data.
Interview Angle
"Critics call free bus rides for women a freebie. Would you defend the scheme as a welfare measure, and how would you judge whether it is working?"
Takeaway Box
- The finding: in four free-bus States, women’s travel rose faster than men’s and faster than elsewhere, led by care and social trips.
- The hedge: paid work did not rise faster there, so free travel is an enabler, not a jobs scheme.
- The data: Time Use Survey, NSO, rounds of 2019 and 2024; ages 6 and above; trip shares are the author’s own calculations.
- The care burden: official data show women carry most caregiving and domestic work, which is why care trips rose most.
Sources:
- The Hindu, Sravani Venkatraju, “Free bus travel has given women more mobility”, 26 October 2026 (print)
- PIB, MoSPI, first Time Use Survey (January to December 2019), 29 September 2020
- PIB, MoSPI, Time Use Survey 2024 fact sheet, 25 February 2025
- PIB, MoSPI, “Time Use in India, 2024” report, 28 March 2025
- PIB, MoSPI, Lok Sabha reply on unpaid caregiving, 25 March 2026
- UN Statistics Division, International Classification of Activities for Time Use Statistics 2016
- The Tribune, on Punjab’s free travel scheme, 5 April 2021
- ThePrint, on the buses covered by Punjab’s scheme, 31 March 2021
- Punjab Government, Department of Information and Public Relations, free bus travel facility for women
- The News Minute, on Tamil Nadu’s first orders, 7 May 2021
- DT Next, on Tamil Nadu’s expanded free bus travel, 2 October 2026
- The South First, on Karnataka’s Shakti scheme, 11 June 2023
- Telangana Chief Minister’s website, launch of the Mahalakshmi scheme
- Deccan Herald (PTI), on Andhra Pradesh’s Stree Shakti scheme, 15 August 2025
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