Transgender commuters in the Indian city of Kolkata – previously Calcutta – now have special seats on some public busses. The city has 42,000 public busses.
And while they provide public transport they are actually privately owned. So Sobhan Mukherjee, who dreamt up the transgender bus seats, worked with the umbrella organization – the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates (JCBS) – to make his idea a reality.
So far, the seats only exist on 36 busses – on the 205 and 205A routes. These travel on a commuter route between Bansdroni in south Kolkata – an area popular with culture and music lovers – and Babughat, on the bank of the River Ganges in the central business district.