Times of India: Thane: Monday, February 02, 2015.
Inadequate
change has forced 52 commuters to trek down to TMT bus depots to collect their
money in the past two years, a RTI query revealed.
TMT has a
facility where if the conductors don't have adequate change to high
denomination notes, he puts it on the ticket. The ticket has to be presented at
the TMT depot where the cash department refunds the balance to the commuter.
In the past
two years, Rs 4,300 have been paid to 52 commuters, who visited the depots to
collect their money, reflects a RTI query filed by advocate Suyash Pradhan.
The query
also revealed that the TMT provides its conductors just Rs 100 daily as daily
impress cash. However, this proves to be inadequate as often commuters fish out
Rs 20, 50, 100 or even 500 notes for fares ranging between Rs 5-18 draining out
the coins in the first trip itself. Conductors lament that they often have to
source loose change from their own pockets to avoid getting into arguments with
commuters.
"Sometimes,
commuters travelling short distances hand out Rs 500 notes. We cannot ask them
to disembark from the bus and so we request them to collect the balance amount
from the depot. Over the past two years, several commuters have come up to
collect varied amounts between Rs 9 to Rs 489," said a TMT official from
Wagle depot.
Activists say
TMT must either round off the fares or equip conductors with more change.
"Conductors claim they don't have enough coins as the TMT does not give
them enough change. Also, TMT fares generally end up in odd amounts like Rs 11,
13, which adds to the problem," says Pradhan.
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