Multiple websites (here, here, here, here, here, and here) have recently published articles claiming that the Union Government of India is set to roll out a nationwide free travel scheme for senior citizens starting from 15 June 2025. According to these articles, the government will provide free transportation for all senior citizens aged 60 and above across multiple modes of transport, including Indian Railways, domestic flights, state-run buses, and metro rail services. In this article, let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The Government of India is set to launch a nationwide free travel scheme for senior citizens aged 60 and above, which will provide free transportation across multiple modes of transport starting from 15 June 2025.
Fact: The viral articles circulating on various websites, claiming that the Government of India is set to launch a nationwide free travel scheme for senior citizens aged 60 and above—offering free transportation across multiple modes from 15 June 2025—are false and baseless. There are no official reports or statements from the Government of India or the relevant ministries regarding any such scheme. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. However, this search did not yield any credible news reports indicating that the Union Government is launching free travel services for senior citizens. If the Government of India were indeed planning to launch such a scheme in the near future, official announcements would have been made, and it would have been widely reported by multiple media outlets.
It should be noted that a similar claim — stating that Indian Railways has introduced a new policy offering a 50% concession on train tickets for senior citizens — is also going viral on social media platforms. However, as of May 2025, Indian Railways has not reinstated the senior citizen concessions that were suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Railways has clarified on several occasions that there are no plans to reinstate these concessions due to financial constraints. Furthermore, there was no mention of restoring these concessions in the Union Budget 2025–26. Factly has previously published a fact-check article about a similar claim regarding reintroduced travel concessions for senior citizens, which can be seen here.
Some of these articles also specifically name Air India as a participating operator in the scheme. However, upon reviewing the airline’s official website, we found no announcement regarding any free travel scheme for senior citizens. Currently, Air India is not offering any fixed-percentage concession for senior citizens on its flights. That said, Air India does provide concessions for senior citizens. Indian nationals who are 60 years of age or older and permanently residing in India are eligible for discounts of up to 50% on domestic economy class flights. Factly has previously published a fact-check article addressing a claim that the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced a 50% concession on Air India base ticket fares for senior citizens over 60 years, which can be seen here.
Multiple fact-checking organisations (here, here) have reached out to the Chief Public Relations Officers (CPROs) of various railway zones. The respective CPROs confirmed that no such announcement has been issued and clarified that the viral claim is false.
We have also contacted officials from the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) and the Hyderabad Metro authorities regarding the viral claim. We will update the article once we receive their response.
Currently, several state governments, such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, are offering a 25% concession on fares for certain classes of bus journeys in state-owned transport services. Recently, the Odisha government approved a scheme named the Mukhyamantri Bus Seva (MBS), which provides a 50% concession on fares for senior citizens on both AC and non-AC buses.
More information about senior citizen concessions offered by various state governments in state-run buses can be found here, here, here, and here. Meanwhile, some states are offering free bus travel in certain classes to women, regardless of age (here, here, here, and here).
Mumbai Metro is offering a 25% concession for senior citizens aged above 65 years on Metro Lines 2A and 7 via Mumbai One passes. Cochin Metro is offering a 50% concession fare discount for senior citizens aged above 75 years.
We noticed several discrepancies on the websites sharing these articles. One such site, named MC Faridabad, lacked basic sections such as ‘Contact’ or ‘About Us’, which are typically present on credible websites to ensure transparency.
The homepage of the website portrayed itself as the official website of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad. However, upon verification, we found that the actual official website of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad was entirely different in both design and content. The official site did not feature any such reports or articles, and there was no mention of a free travel scheme for senior citizens.
The bylines in the articles were attributed to individuals named Catherine Johnson and Angelina White, accompanied by photographs purportedly showing the reporters. However, a reverse image search revealed that the two images were unrelated.
The photo claimed to be of Catherine Johnson is actually of Florence Colgate, a student from Kent, England. Our search led us to articles in HuffPost, Daily Mail, and Time magazine, which reported that Colgate had been dubbed “Britain’s Most Beautiful Face.” According to these reports, she won a nationwide beauty contest sponsored by Lorraine Cosmetics and was praised at the time, aged 18, for her “mathematically” symmetrical features.
The photo, said to depict Angelina White, as shown on another website, was found to originate from iStockphoto.com, a stock photo platform, where it was uploaded in August 2019.
To sum it up, the Government of India is not launching any free travel scheme for senior citizens across multiple modes of transport from 15 June 2025.
