Full disclosure: Akshay Marathe is  National Joint Secretary of Aam Aadmi Party. He is currently working on education policy with the Delhi government.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal to waive off ticket fare for women of the city travelling in the Delhi Metro and DTC buses is just the kind of out-of-the-box innovation that India’s cities need. As a chief minister who doesn’t have control over law and order, and policing, he has limited options when it comes to enhancing women’s security in the capital. But his scheme to make public transport free for women could go a long way in making their travel safer and comfortable.

After the central government hiked Delhi Metro fares despite the Aam Aadmi Party government’s protests in 2017, the average daily ridership on the Metro fell from 28 lakh to 25 lakh. Thousands of crores of rupees of public money has been invested in constructing Phase 3 of the Metro, yet the ridership is over 15 lakh below the estimated capacity of 40 lakh.

Where did the commuters who were forced out of the Metro go? They shifted to alternative modes of transport like shared cabs, two-wheelers, private buses, autos, and some even choose to walk. While this does not expose male commuters to unsafe environments, it puts lakhs of women at risk of being targets of harassment or worse, assault. Most of us are familiar with women friends or colleagues calling their male counterparts during a shared cab ride just to feel reassured about their safety.

Making Metro rides free for all women will bring back lost ridership of at least women commuters, thus significantly improving access to safe travel for women. Not only will it bring back some of the lost commuters, it will encourage a large number of women to step out of their homes for employment opportunities because of the newfound access to safe, affordable and comfortable public transportation.

Another way in which this proposal would make Delhi safe for women is through sheer reclaiming of public spaces. This piece by Sanjukta Basu based on papers on gender and public spaces argues that the more women occupy a public space, the safer it shall become for them. Women need to own spaces to feel safe. The idea is simple: if the ratio of women to men in any given public space were to be less skewed toward men, it would lead to that space feeling more secure. As of now the ratio of women to men in metros and buses is 1:2. If women are encouraged to use these services in larger numbers, it would definitely lead to a more balanced occupancy of public transport.

If all is so well with the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposal, why is it prompting such a sharp response from the Opposition? Why is the BJP opposing the idea? There are some questions and concerns some people have about this scheme and it is important to address them.

1. Does making the Metro free for a section of women make for bad economics?

Contrary to what some might believe, making public transportation free or affordable is never “bad economics”. Across the world, leading cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, among others, are trying to find ways to reduce dependence of transport bodies on fare based revenues, and developing non-fare revenue sources. Cheaper transport for the people boosts the economy, instead of stifling it, by improving mobility of the workforce. In Delhi’s case, it will help women explore opportunities that were thus far seen to be out of reach in terms of physical distance. The shortfall in revenue for the DMRC will be reimbursed to it by the Delhi government, ensuring there is no damage to the quality of service offered by the agency.

2. Where will the Delhi government get the money to fund such an ambitious scheme?

The AAP government, often accused of indulging voters in “freebies” has actually been most financially prudent. It is one of the few states in the country that never spends more money than it recovers as tax revenue. Despite offering free water and cheap electricity, Delhi’s revenues have doubled from approximately ₹ 30,000 crore in 2014-15 to a projected ₹60,000 crore in the last Budget presented in February 2019. The city’s transport Budget too, has more than doubled as a result in absolute terms. Delhi government has already placed orders for 3,000 new buses, 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras, and already pays for marshals in all buses. In spite of these spends, the government has enough money to spend on making transport free for women because of sound economic management of the Arvind Kejriwal government.

3. Doesn’t “free service” usually also mean poor service?

No. This is a myth that the middle class is fed by lazy neo-liberal economists who want all essential services to be in private hands. Take Delhi’s water supply for instance – despite making water up to 20,000 liters per household per month free of cost, Delhi’s government-run piped water supply has only expanded its coverage and each year the quality of water gets better with added water treatment capacities. Delhi’s government schools and hospitals are free of cost, but the AAP government’s commitment to quality education and healthcare has seen consistent improvement in the quality of services citizens can avail despite being free to use. When citizens pay taxes to governments, they’re paying for essential public services. If there are women who want to continue to pay for their tickets, the AAP government has clarified that they can continue to do so.

4. Will the added women ridership not cause overcrowding?

The estimated capacity of the Delhi Metro after Phase 3 has been completed and stands at 40 lakh, but current ridership is just 25 lakh. Two new Metro lines, the Pink and Magenta are especially underutilised because they began operations after the fare hike, so initial adoption itself has been slow to pick up.

5. Why now? Why at the fag end of the Aam Aadmi Party government’s tenure?

The honest answer to this question is that every government is elected for all five years, to the last day of the last year in office. There’s no right or wrong time to introduce a scheme. Many had advised Arvind Kejriwal in 2015 to delay the implementation of cheap electricity and free water schemes towards the second half of his tenure so it’s fresh in people’s minds before they vote. But he chose to fulfil his election promise in his first week of office. Governments have a pace of functioning and a limited bandwidth. Everything cannot be done in one go, and the fulfilment of any party’s vision is a work in progress – just like it is for the Aam Aadmi Party.