Fact Check: Congress govt. did not introduce ‘Men Only’ bus services in Karnataka

The newly-formed Congress government in Karnataka has announced free bus travel for all women passengers in the state. Karnataka Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy announced that all women can travel free of cost in government buses starting from June 1, 2023.

Amidst this, an image of a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus is in wide circulation with a narrative that a special bus service is being started for men in Karnataka.

This image is viral on WhatsApp. The captions in Telugu shared with the image are “బెంగుళూరు లో పురుషుల కోసం ప్రత్యేక బస్సులు”, when translated, it claims that ‘Special Bus service has been started for men in Bengaluru.’

Another claim goes as “కర్ణాటకలో పరిస్థితి బస్సులో పురుషులకు మాత్రమే ఇది నిజమేనా? మరి మహిళల ఉచిత ప్రయాణం” which when translated claims ‘For men only buses in Karnataka. Is this true? Then what about free buses for women?’

The image is also shared by a few on Twitter with the same claim in Telugu as well as English.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. No such scheme has been started in Bengaluru or Karnataka.

When we searched the recent articles about ‘Men only buses in Karnataka’, we did not find any news. We found recent announcements about free bus travel for women passengers but there is no news about special bus services for men.

When we searched the viral image using Google reverse image search, we found the same image published in several articles in 2017. There is no mention of special bus services for men. There is no print of ‘Men only’ on the bus image.

According to the article published on the website of tatamotors.com which shares the viral image, Tata Motors delivered 30 new buses to BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation). The delivery was part of the order of 1,385 buses bagged by Tata Motors comprising the Ultra 6/9 BS IV Midi ad LPO 1512/55 BS IV buses.

The same image was shared by Deccan Herald in an article published in 2018. The image is tagged as a file photo for representation.

The image was also shared in another article published on oneindia.com in 2020. The article speaks about BMTC bus fares. The image is tagged as a ‘Representational image’.

When observed carefully, the colour of the bus and other features of the image shared in the articles match with that of the viral image, along with the flower garland adorning the bus. The number plate of the bus also matches that of the viral image. The logo of Tata Motors in all the images also matches with one another.

Hence, an old image has been morphed and shared with a false narrative. There is no such initiative taken up by the Karnataka government. No special bus services have been started for men either in Bengaluru or in any other place in Karnataka. The claim is false.