Picture stepping out of a Delhi Metro station at 9.30 pm. The last bus has gone, the lane home is poorly lit, and every waiting auto has a man at the wheel. You weigh the distance, the dark and the driver before deciding how to get back.

That is the gap Delhi's new pink autos are meant to help close. According to news reports, the Cabinet cleared the DURGA scheme on 23 September 2026, and applications opened on 12 October. Of 1,300 electric autos in phase one, 1,170 are for women and 130 for transgender persons, who will own and drive them. 

Women applicants must be Delhi residents aged 20 to 40; a lottery decides allotments where applicants outnumber a district's quota. Buyers can claim a ₹50,000 incentive under the Delhi EV Policy 2026; the government hasn't said what each will pay.

Here are six pink schemes, and what the evidence says.

1. Delhi's free bus travel for women

Delhi has offered women free bus rides since October 2019. A WRI India working paper found women's share of daily bus riders rose from 33% in 2019-20 to 42% in 2022-23, though hostile crew, overcrowding and unreliable service blunt the gains.

The Pink Saheli smart card became mandatory for free travel on 18 September 2026, per Vikaspedia.

2. Free buses in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

In three Tamil Nadu districts studied by the State Planning Commission, women saved an average of ₹888 a month under Vidiyal Payanam, The Hindu reports.

Karnataka's Shakti shows the other side. Women's rides rose from 183.07 crore in 2023-24 to 275.71 crore in 2025-26, but ETV Bharat reports ₹5,172 crore in reimbursements is pending, and the transport corporations posted their first loss in 2025-26.

3. Pink autos and e-rickshaws

In Mumbai and Thane, a 5% reservation of rickshaw permits made 465 licences available, and the first 19 trained women began driving in April 2017, The Better India reports.

Getting vehicles to women has been the hard part. Maharashtra........

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