TSRTC bus conductors facing challenges in their daily operations

Hyderabad: In the backdrop of the State government’s ambitious Mahalakshmi scheme completing a month, the TSRTC conductors pointed out that they are facing a lot of problems in implementing the scheme. Conductors have encountered several challenges in their daily operations.

The State government implemented its free bus service for women passengers under the Mahalakshmi scheme on December 9. According to the TSRTC bus conductors, since the implementation of the scheme, one of the prominent challenges is the increased workload brought by the growing number of passengers availing of free travel under the scheme, as there has been an occupancy rate of 90 per cent on average.

The conductors said they are facing difficulties. Shashank, a bus conductor said, “There are around 20 types of tickets and bus passes, and with the free bus travel the ratio has increased the burden on 17,000 conductors working in the corporation.”

Verifying the identity of the scheme is time-consuming, especially during peak hours. However, due to the higher influx of passengers, TSRTC also suspended the issuance of family-24, T-6 tickets, and other schemes. TSRTC cited a reason that conductors were unable to spend more time issuing these tickets. Consequently, the journey time of services is affected. In light of the inconvenience caused to the staff and the commuters, it was suspended.

Bhaskar Rao, another conductor said “Some women are not taking the zero tickets which is a loss to the corporation and the staff will be facing consequences for not performing the assigned duty. The conductors must ensure that every woman must take zero tickets. Also, some passengers may attempt to travel without a valid ticket, knowing that the conductor cannot impose any penalty on them. This has led to instances of ticketless travel and the conductors are burdened and facing challenges with the implementation of the scheme,” he added.

Moreover, the conductors are also facing harassment from men and women passengers travelling in buses. Also, various cases were witnessed where women went aggressive with each other for the seat.

A conductor explained, “It was easier in the past, as 40 per cent of the women travelled by bus and around 30 per cent of women had bus passes. Now, the conductors must issue zero tickets to all of them. Previously, we issued 40-50 tickets to women, but now it has increased to 80-90 tickets.”

Even after an appeal to carry the original ID for the identification, women show the photocopy or a picture in their smart phone. The verification is a time-consuming process the conductors say. “Everyday, several women board the bus and present ID cards on their phones for a free ticket. However, it is not applicable to issue the zero ticket, which leads to the quarrel with the women passengers everyday. We informed them that we cannot issue the zero ticket without an ID card. However, the women passengers argue and verbally abuse the conductors,” says Ramesh Babu, a bus conductor.