PATNA, Aug. 12 -- Fifty of the 400 PM e-buses being inducted into the Bihar State Road Transport Corporation's (BSRTC) fleet this financial year would be deployed as 'pink buses', said its administrator Atul Verma, as an impact assessment study, released in Patna on Tuesday, showed the women-only bus service had become a trusted lifeline for female commuters across Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya.

The study - based on surveys of 109 women commuters, five focus group discussions with 36 women conductors, and interviews with nodal officers and BSRTC's administrator - found that 93% of women surveyed picked the pink bus specifically for safety, and the service scored an average satisfaction rating of 4.6 out of 5. Around 95% said they preferred...