BMTC Drivers issuing used tickets

Many BMTC Drivers and conductors (Mainly ordinary, pushpak and suvarna) are issuing used tickets. It works like this: I buy a ticket for say 30 Rs. Say I do not have change and I hand over Rs. 100 to the conductor/driver then he writes at the top on the back side of one ticket the amount he has to return me back (Rs 70). While asking for the money when it's time for me to get down, he will give me Rs 70 but keep the ticket, which he will issue to new passengers on the same route. This he carefully manages delaying updating his file where he needs to put in the ticket numbers that have been issued periodically.

This is happening at a huge rate and I am certain this will eat into BMTC's profilts. Every second day either I can see this happening or even at time I have also been issued torn tickets not from the booklet but from old tickets maintained cleverly inside that, or sometimes the conductors/drivers have refused to return my tickets!!

I would request BMTC officials to issue strong instructions to Drivers and Conductors in this regard. I have been arguing with these people for quite some time, but I do not think I can fix this problem myself unless I see some action from BMTC.

Thanking you,

Akshay

BMTC, corruption and ticket-less rides

So I did it, in fact twice now. Entered xxxE, knowing fully well that fare to my destination was Rs 6. Took out two 2 rupee coins - no ticket given, no questions asked. Next, I tried this in a Volvo xxxC. Was a bit nervous doing it, and must tell you that I succeeded only in my third attempt at this. Entered the bus, and when conductor passed by asking for tickets, I ignored him. When getting down at my destination, told him that hey, I forgot to buy the ticket. Promptly, I was asked for an amount which was lower than the fare amount (Rs 35). Somehow, felt uncomfortable cheating the bleeding Volvos, I said no, I want a ticket, and paid the full amount.

Hope you get the point. You can do it, easily in the regular buses, and not so easily in the Volvos. Now, to the analytical part - can we really estimate the volume of "corruption" here? How much money could BMTC be losing per day to such ticket-less rides? If we can estimate the "loss" or the "leak" - say Rs xx crores per month - then we will have numbers to build or justify a business case for BMTC to invest in systems or solutions to plug this leak.

Perhaps like this:

• Total ticket revenue BMTC reports (from last annual report)
• Assume average ticket amount, and average bus loads
• Compare this with "observation" - like, from my observations inside 333E, 328c, 323 etc, I see 4-7 out of 60-70 going ticket-less
• Compare the two - average load/amount based "gap", and observation estimate based "gap"
• Then, some final numbers, and may be guess the per person 'corruption' amounts.

This is sort of like my past attempt at estimating the volume of corruption in Traffic Police's fine system. Wrote that post with hopes of getting loads of inputs and criticism, but it was not to be :). No worries.

Lets start

PS2: A Request - Let us discuss the solutions (smart card, daily traveler credit , rfid tickets etc etc) in a separate thread.

Conductors of BMTC reusing already sold or old tickets.

I happen to take the BMTC bus everyday to my office, however recently i encountered a situation where the conductor handed out a used ticket to me instead of tearing a new ticket from the foil. By the look of the ticket even a lame man could say that its an old ticket with traces of sand and dirt and torn edges. When i questioned him about the issue of old ticket he refused to accept his mistake and said it to be a freshly torn ticket. I was so helpless and did not get support from any of the so-passengers and had to return with the same ticket. This has not happened only to me and when discussed with some of my friends, they also complained of having faced the same issue earlier.

These conductors are not only causing a loss to the BMTC but also to the passengers, the situation is worse when some illiterates or school children alight the buses, many a times the conductors take the money and not issue the ticket for short distances thus pocketing the extra money into their personal account which actually belongs to the BMTC.

This could rather be called a daylight theft.

Some authority needs to look into this and get this right immediately...

I happen to take the BMTC bus everyday to my office, however recently i encountered a situation where the conductor handed out a used ticket to me instead of tearing a new ticket from the foil. By the look of the ticket even a lame man could say that its an old ticket with traces of sand and dirt and torn edges. When i questioned him about the issue of old ticket he refused to accept his mistake and said it to be a freshly torn ticket. I was so helpless and did not get support from any of the so-passengers and had to return with the same ticket. This has not happened only to me and when discussed with some of my friends, they also complained of having faced the same issue earlier.

These conductors are not only causing a loss to the BMTC but also to the passengers, the situation is worse when some illiterates or school children alight the buses, many a times the conductors take the money and not issue the ticket for short distances thus pocketing the extra money into their personal account which actually belongs to the BMTC.

This could rather be called a daylight theft.

Some authority needs to look into this and get this right immediately...

Corruption in the BMTC - Tickets

Tickets not issued in BMTC buses -  The conductor asks commuters to opt for ticketless travel, by paying an amount lesser than the ticket value. Surprisingly, this is a regular practice.

Here are the details. I boarded a BMTC bus(KA-01 F2822, reached sony world at 11:30 pm) at canara bank bus stop at Kormangala. The conductor, a lady (very busy on her mobile) asked me for the ticket. I asked her to issue a ticket to Hero Honda stop and handed her Rs 7, the exact change for the ticket. She returns Rs 1 change stating that I need not take the ticket. When I insist on a ticket, she demands Rs 2 more rather rudely (while still talking on her mobile) and then issues a Rs 8 ticket.

She says the ticket prices have increased and the ticket which was priced at Rs 7 would now cost Rs 8. With the BMTC staff siphoning off the BMTC revenue through their newly introduced ticket less travel option,the travel cost for citizens is bound to increase causing lot of inconvenience to the common man.

Request everyone's support in putting an end to this form of corruption.

Reporting BMTC ticket corruption

Further from those posts on ticket-less corruption in BMTC, we now have a way of reporting these incidents. Yes, it is an Internet based system, so the complaints about this not being available to majority of BMTC commuters etc etc apply. Still, something is better than nothing.

The system, called "Correct ticket, collect ticket" is available at http://btis.in/bus/ticket

If we could have an easy way of reporting this from mobile phones - may be just SMS bus route number, bus registration number, and conductor number to report a ticket issue problem, that could see better usage.

Further, I am not sure how the information logged here will be acted upon. For all you know, this could be used to target some conductors - that possibility exists, isn't it? Perhaps the complaint logged here would first lead to a single day audit of ticket sales on the given bus, and if a same conductor gets reported a few times, perhaps a focused audit of the routes he has been on.

Also, wouldn't it be nice to report the "bribe givers" as well? Some fear needs to be put inside them as well, targeting just the "bribe takers" might be a tad unfair.