CHENNAI: Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday said that the free travel for women passengers in the city and town buses has become a huge success, and newly elected Congress government in Karnataka has implemented it there.

Addressing the function of distributing the retirement benefits and final settlements to deceased workers' families, he said that one of the important schemes implemented by the chief minister after coming to power in the State was the free travel to women passengers.

"Since the launch of the scheme, women passengers have undertaken as many as 288 crore trips in the buses. On average, a woman passenger can save Rs 900 per month and Rs 11,000 per year. The number of women travelling in the buses has increased from 40 per cent to 68 per cent. Not only women, transgender people too can travel free of cost, " he said.

On Saturday, he distributed, in the presence of Transport Minister SS Sivasankar, the financial benefits, including provident fund, gratuity and surrendered leave, to the tune of Rs 171 crore to 612 persons like retired employees, those who had taken voluntary retirement and families of the deceased employees of the MTC and SETC.