BENGALURU: Children taller than three feet are not entitled to free rides, Namma Metro is gently reminding parents.
Some parents are outraged. They assume they can just carry their little ones in their arms, and without tokens. But the Metro is saying, ‘Er, don’t mind, but they aren’t so little if they are three feet tall.’
The Metro had put up a bland notice earlier, but is now driving home the message with a picture of two cute children. Perhaps parents listen to cheerful children if not to frowning officialdom?
Arguments break out regularly at the Metro stations: parents ask why they should buy tickets for children who travel free on buses and on long-distance trains.
Much shouting and screaming ensues, with guards and customer care staff being at the receiving end. They have now prettified their print-outs but the old message remains: ‘Please take tokens for children of height 3 feet & above.’
“This is such a headache every day,” said a customer care officer at a busy Metro station. “Parents insist their children are not three feet tall, even when it is apparent they are.”
Some tell the gatekeepers to let their children pass. Ayyo, that’s not so easy. “The sensors at the automatic fare collection gate allow only one person at a time, and will not open unless a token or smart card is swiped,” the official said.
Parents suggest a workaround: they can lift up their children and sail them across the stiles. A line near the ticket counters marks three feet, and is intended to address this problem. But it is rarely used.
Express heard a man, who identified himself as Mallik, cribbing: “My son is not even five. He travels free on trains and buses. Why should I pay for a Metro ride?”
THE Metro’s mandate that children taller than 3 feet must have a ticket to themselves has many a parent irked.
Express saw one such parent, a woman, griping loudly, “Did you see the family that went in before us? Their girl is taller than ours and she went in without a token. We have lost money!”
U A Vasanth Rao, the Metro’s Chief Public Relations Officer, said, “We are providing a world class service. Why are parents reluctant to pay?” Children use seats meant for grown-ups and can’t be allowed free rides, he reasoned. Buses and trains have an age cut-off, but the Metro, meant for quick city transits, has no time to check proof of age.
“We need some yardstick. That’s why we use a height cut-off to determine whether a token is called for,” a senior official said. Sure, sir. A height marker is easy for kids. But you have no device to tell you a parent is grown up, do you?