Scheme extended from ordinary city buses to express, limited-stop and deluxe services, with no income limit or cap on daily trips

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will launch the expanded Vettri Payanam scheme, which offers free bus travel for women, on Friday, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti.

From tomorrow, women and transgender persons will be able to travel completely free of charge on 12,692 state-run buses across Tamil Nadu.

The name of the welfare scheme draws on that of the ruling party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, and means "victorious journey" for women.

Free travel was earlier limited to ordinary city buses. The government later announced that the scheme would be extended to express, limited-stop and deluxe services in corporation, municipal and town panchayat areas and hill areas across the state.

There is no income limit, and no cap on the number of trips beneficiaries can take each day. The expansion is expected to benefit about 8.4 million women daily and facilitate over 1.6 million one-way trips.

An official said the government aims to ensure that women in all regions can access travel opportunities without financial barriers, in keeping with the principles of social justice.

Reacting to the move, DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan accused the ruling TVK of "rebranding" the DMK's Vidiyal Payanam Thittam. He claimed that the core concept of free bus travel for women was introduced by the previous DMK government, and that the Vijay-led government had merely renamed the scheme Vettri Payanam Thittam.

"It is only a name change. The scheme was originally introduced by the DMK government. The present government projects the scheme as if it had introduced the welfare measure addressing women. It is nothing but cheap tactics," Elangovan said.