Stree Shakti — APSRTC Free Bus Travel for Women

What is the Stree Shakti free bus travel scheme?

Stree Shakti is the Andhra Pradesh government's free bus travel scheme for women, run by the Transport, Roads and Buildings Department through the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. It was launched on 15 August 2025, and it allows women, girls and transgender residents of the state to travel free on APSRTC buses anywhere within Andhra Pradesh on the services the scheme covers.

Stree Shakti is a fare-waiver scheme, not a cash transfer. The passenger pays nothing; APSRTC issues a zero-fare ticket and is reimbursed by the state government for the fare foregone. According to state figures at launch, 8,458 of APSRTC's 11,449 buses; about 74 per cent of the fleet; operate under the scheme, and roughly 2.62 crore women in the state are covered.

The practical effect is largest for women in small towns and villages, where the Pallevelugu service is often the only transport to a mandal headquarters, a government hospital or a junior college. For a woman making a daily 30-kilometre commute, the waiver is worth more each month than most cash welfare schemes pay.

Who is eligible for free APSRTC bus travel?

You can travel free if:

• You are a woman, girl or transgender person.
• You are a resident of Andhra Pradesh.
• You are travelling on one of the covered services listed below.
• Your journey begins and ends inside Andhra Pradesh.
• You carry a valid government photo identity.

There is no age limit and no income limit. A schoolgirl, a working woman and a pensioner are all equally covered, and nothing in the scheme requires a ration card, a caste certificate or a bank account.

You are not eligible / the waiver does not apply when:

• You are travelling on an excluded premium or interstate service, non-stop, interstate, chartered, package tour, air-conditioned, Star Liner, Super Luxury, Ultra Deluxe or Saptagiri Express.
• Your journey crosses the state boundary, for example Vijayawada to Hyderabad or Tirupati to Chennai.
• You are a man. Male passengers pay the normal fare on every service.
• You cannot produce a photo identity when the conductor or a checking inspector asks for it.

Which APSRTC services are covered?

The distinction to remember is simple: ordinary and express-class buses are free, premium and interstate buses are not. If the bus you are boarding is one you would normally have paid extra to ride, assume it is outside the scheme and check with the conductor before boarding.

How to apply for and use free APSRTC bus travel

1. Carry one valid government photo identity; Aadhaar card, voter ID, driving licence, passport, or a school or college identity card for students.
2. Check the service type before boarding. The board on the bus and the depot display show whether it is a Pallevelugu, Express, Metro Express, City Ordinary or a premium service. Only the first group is free.
3. Board the bus and show the ID to the conductor when he comes to issue tickets.
4. Collect the zero-fare ticket that the conductor issues after verifying the identity card. Do not decline it — it is the proof of your journey.
5. Keep the ticket until you alight, so you can show it to a checking inspector if the bus is checked en route.

There is no registration, no smart card, no application form, no photograph submission and no fee at any point. Anyone asking for money to enrol you in Stree Shakti is running a fraud.

Do I need to book online?

No booking is needed for the free journey, the waiver is applied on board. The APSRTC online reservation system at apsrtconline.in exists mainly for the reserved and premium services, which are the ones outside Stree Shakti. For a covered service you simply board at the bus station or a wayside stop.

Women travelling long distances on a covered Express service during festival weeks should still reach the bus station early. Since the launch of the scheme, occupancy on the covered classes has risen sharply, and seats on popular routes fill before departure.

Why might the zero-fare ticket be refused?

• The service is outside the scheme. The commonest reason by far. Super Luxury and air-conditioned services are not covered, and the conductor cannot waive the fare on them.
• The journey crosses the state boundary. An interstate service is charged in full even for the portion travelled inside Andhra Pradesh.
• No photo identity produced. Conductors are required to verify identity before issuing a zero-fare ticket.
• Identity does not establish Andhra Pradesh residence in a checking inspector's view. Aadhaar with an Andhra Pradesh address, or a voter ID from the state, settles this cleanly.

If a conductor refuses a zero-fare ticket on a service that is plainly covered, note the service number, route, date and time, and raise it with the depot manager or the helpline. Complaints of this kind are dealt with at depot level.

How does the scheme work financially?

Stree Shakti does not ask APSRTC to absorb the loss. The conductor records every free journey as a zero-fare ticket, the depot totals those tickets, and the state government reimburses the corporation for the fare foregone. That accounting chain is the reason the ticket matters so much: a journey taken without one is invisible to the reimbursement system and, on a checking inspector's list, indistinguishable from ticketless travel.

The same mechanism explains why premium services are excluded. Reimbursing a Pallevelugu fare of a few tens of rupees across a large number of journeys is a manageable outlay; reimbursing air-conditioned and Super Luxury fares would not be, and those services also carry a different passenger profile. The scheme is deliberately aimed at the classes of bus that ordinary and rural passengers actually use, which is why enclave route services, the buses that connect remote habitations to the nearest town, are inside the scheme.

What has changed for passengers since the launch?

Two practical changes are worth planning around. First, occupancy on covered services has risen, so seats on Express and Metro Express services fill earlier than they used to, particularly on Fridays, Sundays and festival weeks. Reaching the bus station ten minutes earlier is the simplest fix. Second, women who previously chose a Super Luxury service for a long journey now often find the Express alternative worth the slower run, since the fare on it is nil.

Students are among the clearest beneficiaries. A girl travelling daily from a village to a junior college or a degree college in the mandal or district headquarters previously needed a bus pass; under Stree Shakti the same journey costs nothing on a covered service, and a college identity card is enough identity proof at the conductor's check.

Where do I complain or ask questions?

• APSRTC helpline: 0866-2570005
• Depot manager of the depot from which the bus operates, the fastest route for a conductor-level complaint
• APSRTC online portal, apsrtconline.in, for service information and the reservation system
• Regional Manager, APSRTC at the district level, when a depot does not act

Stree Shakti was announced by the Andhra Pradesh government as a permanent entitlement rather than a limited-period offer, and the state extended it to transgender persons at the outset. Because it needs no application, the only thing standing between an eligible passenger and a free journey is carrying a photo identity card, which is worth keeping in the bag rather than at home.