Ahmedabad, Nov 20, 2025

Carrying forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of women empowerment, the Surat Municipal Corporation has launched a first-of-its-kind initiative in Gujarat: A woman driver will now operate a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) bus dedicated to women passengers. This marks the first instance in the state where the steering of a 12-metre BRTS bus has been entrusted to a woman.

Somnath Marathe, Chairman of the Transportation Committee, said that Surat currently operates more than 450 electric buses across 13 BRTS routes, including 150 buses of the length of 12 metres. Of these, three buses run exclusively for women on the ONGC–Sarthana route.

“Until now, these buses had male drivers. We were actively looking for trained women drivers for a long time, and we fina

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