CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) conductors face an unusual nightmare as some of them reported bundles of tickets going missing from buses, for which they allegedly had to bear the brunt, with the penalty running to thousands of rupees.
The crew members of the state-owned transport corporation are taking extra care to keep the bundles of tickets safe by hiding them deep in their pockets. Conductors are provided a hand-held ticketing machine and bundles of tickets of various denominations. The traditional tickets come in handy for conductors when the machines run out of power or face a technical snag. However, the crew members complain about the absence of a facility to store bundles of tickets in the bus.
“I lost a bundle of tickets worth around Rs 10,000 when I was inside the bus and the authorities took severe action,” says a conductor, requesting anonymity at the Adyar depot. “Conductors are responsible for the ticket bundles. They will have to own up if they lose the tickets, as it happened in my case.”
Due to the absence of boxes or safety lockers, bundles of tickets are kept in the space next to the driver’s seat. When the buses are parked at the bus terminus, the bundles get stolen and crew members are clueless about what thieves do with the bundles.
“It has happened to a few of my colleagues as well. But, we can do little about it as conductors are burdened with the task of issuing tickets,” another conductor plying on Puzhuthivakkam route says. He claims that those on double shifts will have to carry two machines. One conductor on the Broadway-Red Hills route said that he avoids the hand-held ticketing machines as taking care of the bundles of tickets and electronic machines is a tedious process.
M Chandran, vice president, Tamil Nadu State Transport Employees Federation affiliated with CITU, said that some conductors fearing action end up paying the losses. “Incidents of losing bundles of tickets have shot up recently,” he says, urging the MTC administration to take steps to resolve the problem.
When contacted, MTC officials dismissed the issue as stray incidents caused by the carelessness of the crew. Measures have been taken to increase the efficiency of the handheld ticketing machines, the official added.