Govt buses caught fleecing public, charge ₹10 to₹40 extra per ticket
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:20.11.2019
Fleecing customers is not a practice seen only among private buses or autorickshaws. Government buses too have joined the party as RTI replies reveal that more than 40 government buses collected between ₹10 and ₹40 extra per ticket from every passenger they have catered to since 2018.
These buses, which were to be operated as ordinary services, were run as express services that charge 1.2 to 1.5 times more than ordinary ones. A handful of cases are booked for the sake of it, but more than 500 violations can be identified across the state every day, activists said.
Any bus operator, be it the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) or private operators, is to collect fares as approved by the regional transport (district collectors) or state authorities based on permits issued, trip length, timing and type of service. Rules mandate all operators to exhibit a table with these fares in buses. But, many choose to give this rule the slip and collect excess fare.
In light of this issue, transportation activist Kathirmathiyon conducted a sample survey along 42 routes in west TN. He filed a series of RTI petitions seeking the approved fare tables and travelled in these buses to find out how much a ticket really costs. “Besides operating ordinary as express services, TNSTC Coimbatore has added stops illegally and has submitted wrong details about trip length while applying for permits,” he said.
Similar violations by TNSTC Villupuram were identified by activists in Chennai. While the approved fare for travel between Poonamalle and Tiruvallur is ₹31 per ticket for 29km, conductors collected ₹35.
“Instead of levying fines, regional transport offices should either suspend conductors’ licences or bus permits. The transport commissioner has written about this to his subordinates at least five times in the last two years, but there hasn’t been one suspension,” Kathirmathiyon said.
An official from TNSTC Coimbatore said, “No excess fare was collected even in special buses operated during Diwali. Express services are operated only when the length of the trip exceeds 80km. We operate 214 express and 1,028 ordinary services.”
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:20.11.2019
Fleecing customers is not a practice seen only among private buses or autorickshaws. Government buses too have joined the party as RTI replies reveal that more than 40 government buses collected between ₹10 and ₹40 extra per ticket from every passenger they have catered to since 2018.
These buses, which were to be operated as ordinary services, were run as express services that charge 1.2 to 1.5 times more than ordinary ones. A handful of cases are booked for the sake of it, but more than 500 violations can be identified across the state every day, activists said.
Any bus operator, be it the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) or private operators, is to collect fares as approved by the regional transport (district collectors) or state authorities based on permits issued, trip length, timing and type of service. Rules mandate all operators to exhibit a table with these fares in buses. But, many choose to give this rule the slip and collect excess fare.
In light of this issue, transportation activist Kathirmathiyon conducted a sample survey along 42 routes in west TN. He filed a series of RTI petitions seeking the approved fare tables and travelled in these buses to find out how much a ticket really costs. “Besides operating ordinary as express services, TNSTC Coimbatore has added stops illegally and has submitted wrong details about trip length while applying for permits,” he said.
Similar violations by TNSTC Villupuram were identified by activists in Chennai. While the approved fare for travel between Poonamalle and Tiruvallur is ₹31 per ticket for 29km, conductors collected ₹35.
“Instead of levying fines, regional transport offices should either suspend conductors’ licences or bus permits. The transport commissioner has written about this to his subordinates at least five times in the last two years, but there hasn’t been one suspension,” Kathirmathiyon said.
An official from TNSTC Coimbatore said, “No excess fare was collected even in special buses operated during Diwali. Express services are operated only when the length of the trip exceeds 80km. We operate 214 express and 1,028 ordinary services.”
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