chennai tamil nadu chief minister j jayalalithaa on monday handed over smart cards to five students as part of the launch of an already existing free bus pass scheme in this academic year more than 3111 lakh college and school students will benefit from the scheme in this academic year they can travel free of cost in government busesin 201516 the government distributed 2805 lakh smart cards to students the total expenditure for the government transport corporations was rs 480 crore last year this year the government is expected to spend rs 50431 crore for the scheme according to an official statement