As the revised bus fares came into effect, Friday was marked by uncertainty for both commuters and conductors of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses. Passengers haggled with conductors over the fare demanded. Many of them wanted the conductors to show them the revised tariff rates.
Some commuters on a Parry's-bound bus from Villivakkam got down after they came to know of the increase in fares for which they did not have enough money with them. C. Shanthi, a regular commuter between Nandambakkam and Adyar, said her usual fare of Rs.4 on an ordinary bus has doubled. “The bus driver told us that from tomorrow more express buses will frequent this route, which means I have to spend Rs.14 just for a one-way trip to my workplace,” she said.
The bus conductors were given a new fare table on Thursday night, said MTC Managing Director S. Boopathy.
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“Sufficient number of inspectors and officers were posted in important places across the city today to assist the public and the conductors,” he said, adding that this practice will continue for a week.
The MTC plans to get ready the new set of tickets for the revised fares within one week. Until then, conductors have to provide commuters a combination of tickets.
“Presently, we are issuing multiple tickets to a passenger to accommodate the new denominations,” says a conductor on a bus bound for Vadapalani.
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Pass holders
Regular commuters using passes were confused about the validity of their passes. While the daily pass cost has gone up from Rs.30 to Rs.50, the monthly pass has increased from Rs.600 to Rs.1000. “I already feel that Rs.600 is bit too much for a monthly pass. Increasing this to Rs.1,000 may discourage people from opting for this pass,” said M.S.Jawahar, a regular commuter between Tiruvottiyur and Egmore.
“Today, when I got into a bus with my Rs.600 pass, I was told I had to go to the Vadapalani bus stop and pay Rs.400 extra,” says P.Ravindran, a resident of Porur, who travels 25 km to his workplace daily.
“The transport staff told me they have not received any written instructions to increase the season pass amounts and I can continue to use the pass for the time being,” he added. Pass-holders felt that a time lag between the announcement and implementation could have helped avoid confusion.
Longer routes
Long-distance commuters such as N.Aruna Devi, who travels from Tambaram to Parry's, said express buses ply more frequently on this route, which means that she will now have to spend almost Rs.15 one-way. The fare for the same distance on an ordinary service used to be Rs.7. T.Sankarapandian, a resident of Manali New Town, complains that his travel will be dearer, as he takes more than one bus to get to the heart of the city. “There are no direct routes, so I have to travel to Tiruvottiyur and find connecting buses. I already spend Rs.30 per day but now, this is going to increase further,” he said.
T.K.Pandian, a quality assurance consultant, feels the hike in fares should translate to better services.
“Even though the increase in fares of air-conditioned buses is not a matter of concern to me, I wish maintenance of buses will be looked into,” he said. “If buses are no longer going to be dependable, then I will have to consider switching to other modes of transport such as trains,” he added.
The increased revenue that MTC expects – from the existing Rs.2.15 crore to Rs.3.15 crore daily – will be used to provide good quality services such as improvements in the upkeep of buses and introducing more number of buses, said Mr.Boopathy.
A conductor, who has worked on the 23C (Besant Nagar to Aynavaram) route for 15 years, said he had seen how the public dealt with the last fare hike in 2001. “It took people a few days to adjust to the new fares but having said that, the hike could have been made incrementally over the years rather than at one stroke like this,” he said.