On Wednesday, Rajkot became the second city, after Surat, in Gujarat to run women-only public transport buses. The pilot project, with four “pink buses” on as many routes, was launched in the morning in the presence of senior BJP leaders.

BJP MLAs Dr Darshita Shah (Rajkot West) and Ramesh Tilala (Rajkot South), outgoing Deputy Mayor Narendrishsinh Jadeja and outgoing BJP whip in RMC Manish Radiya flagged off the ‘Pink Bus’ pilot project.

Hours later, the state election commission announced the dates for the local body polls. With that, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect in Gujarat, where elections to most municipal corporations, municipalities, district panchayats and taluka panchayats are due.

The timing of the launch on the very first day of the new financial year, and on a day the elections were announced, as well as the participation of corporators whose terms have already ended, has raised eyebrows in the largest municipal corporation in Saurashtra region.

When asked about the timing, Jadeja said, “The thinking behind this is to help women travel in buses for Rs 1,000. The decision was taken at the second last standing committee meeting. It is not related to the safety of women.”

Notably, in the last municipal election in 2021, the Congress won four of 72 seats in the 18 wards of Rajkot city. It’s corporator Vashram Sagathiya of Ward-15, who defected to AAP and later returned to the Congress, told the Indian Express, “Just like what they did in Bihar when they deposited Rs 10,000 in the bank accounts of women just before the election, this Pink Bus was launched in Rajkot before the polls, but there is nobody to take action against them. The project was discussed in the budget, but the term of the 2026-27 Budget began today, on April 1, so this means that the cost to buy these buses and for other ‘settings’ were taken care of beforehand.”

The Indian Express also tried to reach out to BJP’s Jaymin Thakkar, the outgoing chairman of the Standing Committee of the RMC. He remained unavailable for comment.

Under the pilot project, the Pink Buses will run across both public transport services in Rajkot, the RMTS as well as the BRTS, with three buses being assigned to the former and one to the latter, by Rajkot Rajpath Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) administered by the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC).

Public transport in Rajkot currently includes 234 buses, including 100 CNG buses and 134 electric vehicles operating on 82 routes. Approximately, 54,000 people use public transport in Rajkot city per day, out of which 15,000 (35%) are women.

“These Pink Buses have been started under the Mahila Surakshit Safar Yojana (MSSY) under the budget of the financial year 2026-27, with the aim of increasing citizen-centric facilities and especially to provide safer and more convenient travel to women passengers. Under this scheme, a special “Pink Bus” service will be started for women, in which only women passengers will be provided with the facility, with the aim of providing a safe environment for women in public transport and enabling them to travel independently,” said a statement from RRL on Wednesday.

Paresh Adhia, the General Manager (GM) of Rajkot Rajpath Limited, told the Indian Express, “It is to make women feel safe to use public transport. Women will feel safe because being safe and the perception of safety are two different things…”

When asked if this implies that public transport in Rajkot is otherwise perceived unsafe for women, Adhia said, “No complaints of bad incidents in general public transport have been received so far.”

Women passengers will be able to avail this service by obtaining a “Women Category” pass. This pass will be issued at a nominal rate of only Rs1,000 per year, while a processing fee of Rs50/- will be charged for individual tickets. The passes will be available at all civic centers, ward offices of RMC and on the RMC website.

On the financial benefits to women, Adhia said, “It is to encourage women to use public transport and give them the benefit of a Rs 1,000 card, which they can use to meet their travel expenses. This new scheme reduces their expenditure…”

However, RMC officials confirmed that no feasibility study or study of such a scheme in other cities was carried out before the launch of this pilot project in Rajkot, and it is being tried out on a “trial and error” basis.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Tushar Sumera said: “We wanted women to have a safe and comfortable journey. We are hoping that the share of women in the workforce will increase with this step… we are giving them passes of Rs1,000… It is not like public transport is unsafe for women, but we want to make it more comfortable for them.”

Sumera also said that this is the first time that women conductors have been hired for public transport buses in the city. He also said the RMC was trying to hire women drivers for the Pink Buses.

Four Pink Bus Routes

Several factors such as the number of women commuting on specific routes and presence of educational institutions, residential areas and major transport corridors, were considered, a note by RRL read.

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No depot for 100 buses sanctioned by GoI for Rajkot 

RMC officials confirmed that Rajkot has been sanctioned 100 buses under the PM e-bus Sewa Scheme of the Government of India. However, the arrival of these buses had been delayed as a special depot for them was yet to be set up.

RRL GM Paresh Adhia said, “We are expecting 100 buses from the GoI. They have been sanctioned. We are constructing a depot in the Shital Park area and the work order has been issued. The construction will be over in about 10 months, after which we will begin receiving the buses in early 2027.”

However, the proposed location of this bus depot has been changed at least three times in the past year before the Shital Park area was chosen.

When asked about this, Municipal Commissioner Sumera said, “We had to shift the location of the bus depot multiple times due to several issues, but they are now sorted and work will be completed by the end of 2026.”