Now, Pink Seats Reserved Exclusively For Women In Bengaluru Buses

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has now divided seats for men and women colour-wise in the city buses, Bangalore Mirror reported. The move comes after the metro rail in Bengaluru decided to allow only  women passengers to enter and exit from the first two doors.

A few buses have been on the road with 13 pink-coloured seats —reserved exclusively for women commuters

This announcement came from Transport Minister HM Revanna. The authorities have recently coloured the women's section in the buses pink. The move was necessitated as it was observed that men were increasingly occupying seats reserved for women in BMTC buses. Women commuters would be stuck in traffic jams for hours standing to find a decent seat. To solve that problem, this step was initiated.

The aim is to create awareness among male commuters and to avoid embarrassment to women in buses

Pink seats can be found in as many as 104 buses in Bengaluru.

In every bus, 16 seats stay reserved for women, and two seats behind the driver are reserved for senior women citizens and one for differently-abled women

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BMTC Managing Director V Ponnuraj said, “As per the decision of the government, covers of seats reserved for women will be pink in BMTC buses. The plan is to ensure all BMTC buses have pink seats, but it will be done in a phased manner. It makes it more convenient for women to sit in such seats as pink-coloured seats will make men commuters stay away from occupying them.”

Lauding the state government and BMTC’s move, Nagalakshmi Bai, chairperson, Karnataka State Women Commission, said, “Women suffer from several health problems. So having seats reserved for sure will help women bus passengers.”

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Authorities in the city transportation sector are trying hard to make it safer for women to travel. Pink autos were inaugurated in Bangalore last month.

In the world’s fastest changing city, we are glad to have reserved seats but let’s take a moment here to think why this is necessary. If the roads were safe and women could move about freely in public space, there wouldn’t be a need for women’s special coaches or pink-coloured seats.

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What do you think? Tell us in the comment section below.

Feature Image Credit: Bangalore Mirror

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