Men and women in our country have reserved seats in most modes of transport. While there is always a debate on whether women "deserve" it or not, we know for a fact that the reserved compartments and seats make them feel safer. Chennai has its women exclusive buses but the question is, do we need more? 

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation has assigned 250 buses just for women but surprisingly, the officials claim that they are running empty. "We're unsure why this is happening. We don't see any young women use these buses, it could be because they are with friends and classmates and like to travel together. If it helps reduce this sort of cybercrime we can increase the buses but we already have 250 buses running almost empty," said V Krishnamoorthy, Managing Director, Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

Krishnamoorthy said that the Corporation had submitted a proposal to install CCTV cameras in buses and bus stations as well but it is still in the initial stages. "What is happening is definitely very bad and we will look into it. But women have to register complaints, so far we have received none," he said.

But the Managing Director said that they would fully corporate in any plan to ensure more safe spaces for women,"We will take the needful steps but if someone wants to do a study or a survey and they bring us the results, we will definitely take strict action to ensure it doesn't happen. But we need some sort of feedback otherwise we have nothing to work on," he explained.

Giving his thumbs up to the Edex campaign, Krishnamoorthy said that he was happy such an effort was being made and offered his full co-operation. "Whatever feedback you received from the campaign can be brought to us and we will do our best to make the buses safer for women," he said.