It is after serious consideration that i decided i had to write about the travel at Chennai.
Every time i get into the an MTC bus or use a local train here my mind tries to break open the silence but the lack of knowledge of even minimal Tamil stops me from the embarrassment of having to speak English to people who could hardly comprehend what i am speaking.
Let me come to the point.The bus service first.I ve heard that the bus service here is cheap compared to neighbouring states. Articles criticising the mangement of Kerala RTC pointing out the success of MTC is a common column in Malayalam news papers. But i came here to realise that this is not completely true. The MTC has buses in different classes like local white board to AC jn nurm ones.The ticket charge for the local buses is less i agree, but how many such buses do we have here? Here lies the trick. A passenger is not going to wait half an hour inorder to pay 2 rupee less and travel in a local bus.
The bus charges from my place Okkiam near OMR to Sholinganallur is as follows,
19 B LSS: 2:50
19B others:5-7
M119 series ,M19 series 3
T 51 express :3
T51 rest :5 - 7
All others: 7
These data may not be exact according to the MTC but it is the exact amount that the bus conductors take from us.
It is surprising that a large no. of working class population does wait for the local buses. But in OMR where the Software engineer population exceeds the locals this does nt make a differenc to MTC.
Another point is about the ticket collection.In most white board buses it is a common sight that the bus stops at suddenly at nowhere till all the ticket charges are collected. It was only recently that i came to know that this is called stage.ie. after a particular stop the ticket charge changes and hence the conductor collects the ticket cost before the next stage.Whatever the logic behind this is .. the fact is that the bus stops at most stages and is it right to stop the public transport and make the passengers waiting???
Another incident that happened to me..
This was one among my first travels in MTC.I got into the bus.The conductor did not ask me for ticket charge and i was busy watching the places through the window.This was during my travel from Tambaram to Mahindra City. After two or three stops it struck me that I did nt pay the ticket and i called the conductor to give him the ticket amount. When the guy came to know that i had not yet paid the ticket charge he went on hysterical and started shouting out words in GREEK to me.Those Tamil words were unable to be compiled or interpreted by my Kerala brain but I could comprehend that those were abusive words.All I could utter was (tamil ariyilla)ai... He took the ticket charge and continued his shower of abuses.Later I started noticing that most people getting into the bus pay their ticket charge first, and then look for their seats , if they exist by that time. My close investigation revealed that most bus conductors mark something in a kind of paper probably having something related to the no. of passengers at each stop. But is that an excuse that the passengers should go to the conductor for paying the ticket even in the most crowded buses. For many who hav nt got into the MTC buses this might seem normal, but the buses are almost always crowded beyond their capacity and to get to the conductor is just impossible.And since the Tamil Nadu govnt has been lenient enough to provide the conductors special seats, they prefer to be in the seat wholeheartedly bestowing the extra job of passing the ticket and the charge from each person to the passengers.
For me, coming from Kerala where the conductors comes to each person to actually ask the ticket, however crowded the bus is ,this was a new experience.
The next peculiar behaviour is from the MTC bus drivers.These people I believe have been so highly trained in their job that their passion to drive tells them never EVER wait for all the passengers to get in to the bus. They start off the bus leaving behind a group of people wondering why they could nt get into the bus even though the bus had enough space.This feeling is not as difficult to digest as the fact that its mere luck that many people cling on to their lives by clinging on to the bus when it starts off, in a struggle to escape from getting under the bus.This let me tell you is no exaggeration at all as this incident gets repeated every day at most bus stops along OMR. I don t remember even one day when i am waiting for bus and hav nt experienced this myself or hav nt watched this. Since these are state owned buses, the driver's indifference about passengers entering the bus is understandable but how that in any way justifies such dangerous act which might get people killed has confused my mind many a day until i got used to it. I can assure you if this had happened at Kerala the driver is sure to be at hospital getting beaten up by people.
The problem i understand is that no one questions them .The very few who do are again bestowed with wonderful grammatical usages by the conductors who act as thought the bus is their own and they are doing some kind of social welfare act by plying the buses.
Last there is one more point about the MTC buses. This is about the passengers, especially the students.I doubt a lot whether the curriculum here teaches acrobatic skills in buses too. How the students and even youngsters stick to the doors even when there is enough room inside the bus is surprising.I feel sorry for not having taken a photo of this and pasted it here.Probably i ll do this soon.Because this so funny to have people hanging out of buses even making the bus slant to one side when they can comfortably take their seats inside. This should also be because the conductors seat is very near to the door and people tend to crowd around that area to get their tickets as soon as possible to avoid the wrath of the conductor.
My two year old aquaintance with the MTC has been mostly miserable and has forced me to think about the management and also the lack of knowledge of people about their own rights. Had I known the language I would atleast have got myself beaten by the driver or conductor if he acts in any of the above ways as I don t think I could stand them physically but will surely give myself a chance against this kind of injustice, negiligence and what more.......
Every time i get into the an MTC bus or use a local train here my mind tries to break open the silence but the lack of knowledge of even minimal Tamil stops me from the embarrassment of having to speak English to people who could hardly comprehend what i am speaking.
Let me come to the point.The bus service first.I ve heard that the bus service here is cheap compared to neighbouring states. Articles criticising the mangement of Kerala RTC pointing out the success of MTC is a common column in Malayalam news papers. But i came here to realise that this is not completely true. The MTC has buses in different classes like local white board to AC jn nurm ones.The ticket charge for the local buses is less i agree, but how many such buses do we have here? Here lies the trick. A passenger is not going to wait half an hour inorder to pay 2 rupee less and travel in a local bus.
The bus charges from my place Okkiam near OMR to Sholinganallur is as follows,
19 B LSS: 2:50
19B others:5-7
M119 series ,M19 series 3
T 51 express :3
T51 rest :5 - 7
All others: 7
These data may not be exact according to the MTC but it is the exact amount that the bus conductors take from us.
It is surprising that a large no. of working class population does wait for the local buses. But in OMR where the Software engineer population exceeds the locals this does nt make a differenc to MTC.
Another point is about the ticket collection.In most white board buses it is a common sight that the bus stops at suddenly at nowhere till all the ticket charges are collected. It was only recently that i came to know that this is called stage.ie. after a particular stop the ticket charge changes and hence the conductor collects the ticket cost before the next stage.Whatever the logic behind this is .. the fact is that the bus stops at most stages and is it right to stop the public transport and make the passengers waiting???
Another incident that happened to me..
This was one among my first travels in MTC.I got into the bus.The conductor did not ask me for ticket charge and i was busy watching the places through the window.This was during my travel from Tambaram to Mahindra City. After two or three stops it struck me that I did nt pay the ticket and i called the conductor to give him the ticket amount. When the guy came to know that i had not yet paid the ticket charge he went on hysterical and started shouting out words in GREEK to me.Those Tamil words were unable to be compiled or interpreted by my Kerala brain but I could comprehend that those were abusive words.All I could utter was (tamil ariyilla)ai... He took the ticket charge and continued his shower of abuses.Later I started noticing that most people getting into the bus pay their ticket charge first, and then look for their seats , if they exist by that time. My close investigation revealed that most bus conductors mark something in a kind of paper probably having something related to the no. of passengers at each stop. But is that an excuse that the passengers should go to the conductor for paying the ticket even in the most crowded buses. For many who hav nt got into the MTC buses this might seem normal, but the buses are almost always crowded beyond their capacity and to get to the conductor is just impossible.And since the Tamil Nadu govnt has been lenient enough to provide the conductors special seats, they prefer to be in the seat wholeheartedly bestowing the extra job of passing the ticket and the charge from each person to the passengers.
For me, coming from Kerala where the conductors comes to each person to actually ask the ticket, however crowded the bus is ,this was a new experience.
The next peculiar behaviour is from the MTC bus drivers.These people I believe have been so highly trained in their job that their passion to drive tells them never EVER wait for all the passengers to get in to the bus. They start off the bus leaving behind a group of people wondering why they could nt get into the bus even though the bus had enough space.This feeling is not as difficult to digest as the fact that its mere luck that many people cling on to their lives by clinging on to the bus when it starts off, in a struggle to escape from getting under the bus.This let me tell you is no exaggeration at all as this incident gets repeated every day at most bus stops along OMR. I don t remember even one day when i am waiting for bus and hav nt experienced this myself or hav nt watched this. Since these are state owned buses, the driver's indifference about passengers entering the bus is understandable but how that in any way justifies such dangerous act which might get people killed has confused my mind many a day until i got used to it. I can assure you if this had happened at Kerala the driver is sure to be at hospital getting beaten up by people.
The problem i understand is that no one questions them .The very few who do are again bestowed with wonderful grammatical usages by the conductors who act as thought the bus is their own and they are doing some kind of social welfare act by plying the buses.
Last there is one more point about the MTC buses. This is about the passengers, especially the students.I doubt a lot whether the curriculum here teaches acrobatic skills in buses too. How the students and even youngsters stick to the doors even when there is enough room inside the bus is surprising.I feel sorry for not having taken a photo of this and pasted it here.Probably i ll do this soon.Because this so funny to have people hanging out of buses even making the bus slant to one side when they can comfortably take their seats inside. This should also be because the conductors seat is very near to the door and people tend to crowd around that area to get their tickets as soon as possible to avoid the wrath of the conductor.
My two year old aquaintance with the MTC has been mostly miserable and has forced me to think about the management and also the lack of knowledge of people about their own rights. Had I known the language I would atleast have got myself beaten by the driver or conductor if he acts in any of the above ways as I don t think I could stand them physically but will surely give myself a chance against this kind of injustice, negiligence and what more.......
