Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay chaired a meeting at the secretariat in Chennai on Monday to review preparations for launching the expanded free bus travel scheme for women, Vettri Payanam, on October 2.

Under the expansion, the facility will cover Express, Limited stop service and Deluxe buses operating in cities and towns, Mofussil Ordinary buses, and Ghat Ordinary buses operating on hill routes beyond 40 km.

A total of 12,692 buses will be brought under the scheme, benefiting around 84.32 lakh women every day, according to the report.

The integration of buses covered under Vettri Payanam with electronic ticketing machines has been completed. Testing and verification are scheduled to be completed by September 25, and trial runs will be conducted on September 27.