Bengaluru ticket-checkers to don body cams inside BMTC buses
BENGALURU: In a first for the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), starting from Friday, the line-checking inspectors will have to mandatorily don body cameras while carrying out any activity related to ticket-checking inside buses. The BMTC has already procured 50 cameras and will purchase more after an assessment of the impact it makes. The move has been effected following repeated complaints from conductors about harassment and false bookings against them allegedly by the Inspectors, a senior BMTC official said. Line-Checking Inspectors flag down any bus at random and check if passengers have tickets or passes on them as well as if the conductors have the correct figures pertaining to fare collection and tickets distributed.
A N Prakash Gowda, Director, Security & Vigilance, BMTC, told The New Indian Express, “Our staff on ticket-checking duty will be trained in operating these cams from Friday morning. Later in the day, you can spot them on the field wearing them.”Weighing 350 gms, these cams are sized 5 cms x 5 cms. Each piece costs BMTC `12,500.
“These digital cams can be strapped onto the shirt pocket or tagged near the shirt collar. Each cam can record over 10 hours of footage,” Gowda said. “Disputes between conductors and inspectors are almost a daily affair for us now. Once, the footage is there, we will have an actual picture of what exactly took place. We have made it mandatory for them to wear it during every check being conducted. The chip inside the camera with the footage needs to be handed over to the Deputy Chief Security Vigilance Officer by all on a daily basis, “ he explained.
Presently, 60 BMTC inspectors are involved in line-checking duties in three shifts. The checking staff work in batches with their routes frequently changed. “A car with a driver and two or three inspectors form a batch. Initially, the camera will be worn only by one person in a batch. After assessing how it works, we will decide if all of them need to have it on their person,” the Director said.
BMTC tried out a similar operation on a trial basis using pen cams recently but it was not successful.”Hence, we opted for body cams now as they have been used very successfully by traffic police in many cities,” he said. Ticket checking inspectors check anywhere between 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the overall number of trips operated by BMTC each day.