Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

NK SINGH

Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public.

However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services.

But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city bus services that is, if it can be called any service at all.

Nevertheless, even the unsatisfactory and chaotic bus service is a 'necessary evil' and one cannot do without it. A comparatively smaller town like Bhopal, especially the walled city, could have switched over to Blower-moving vehicles like a ton- gas and bicycles the buses here also take a pretty long time due to crowded roads in the walled city and unusual delays at the stops but it is practically not possible due to the ups and downs of the hilly terrain here. And now that the town is fast expanding, one cannot dispense with automobiles as a public mode of transport.

Taxis and Autos

As for the taxis and auto-rickshaws, there are some 300 taxis and 250 scooters on Bhopal roads it was quite a luxury even in the good old days; they hardly ever followed the meter and used to charge arbitrary rates. After the hike in petrol prices, one simply cannot afford it anymore. The cabbies are now demanding whatever they like, say Rs. two per km. for taxis and Rs. one per km. for three-wheelers, even though the Government has announced the revised rates for taxis and auto-rickshaws. The bus is therefore the ultimate mode of conveyance for the populace in Bhopal. 

Naturally, a perturbed public very much resented the fare hike when it was announced. More 60 because the pinch was 'not so slight'. The impression given by the STA was that of a 25 per cent increase in fare whereas it had been arbitrarıly enhanced by 33.3 per cent to 300 per cent.

Unjust rise

The unjust rise was explicit in the sudden spurt in daily earnings of city buses which had gone up by more than fifty per cent. Before the fare hike the daily collections of city depots used to be around Rs. 6000.

But on Nov. 15 it went up to Rs. 9,340, on Nov. 16 to Rs. 8,578 and on Nov. 17 to Rs. 9,433. Not a case of a 25 per cent increase.

Of course, the MPSRTC has its explanation. According to its Chief Traffic Manager, they had to bring quite a few changes in the old fares, "which were not rationalised". For example, he said, the distance between Jawahar Chouk and Polytechnic is more than two km. But they used to charge only for two km which, at the old rates of 3.72 paise per km, came

to 7.44 paise.

 

But keeping in view public welfare, the MPSRTC used to charge only five paise. At the new rate of 4.65 paise per km, the fare came to about 9.30 paise. Hence it had been increased from five paise to ten paise: a cent per cent increase.

But most of the people complained that this explanation was

merely an eye-wash and that a Govt the owned body was openly fleecing

the public. Refuting the point they said that what happened was that instead of calculating the distance-based new fares, the MPSRTC authorities just increased the fare by five paise per stop. For instance, a passenger pointed out, that the fare Vidhan Sabha to from Vallabh Bhavan used to be five but it had been increased to twenty paise "just because four stops fall on the way."

In such a situation the State Government directive forces the MPSRTC to simplify the fares keeping the increase around 25 per cent was timely. It is a relief for those thousands of city dwellers who use the city bus services run by the MPSRTC in seven towns of the State. Some 130 buses cover a total distance of about 22.287 km in 1983 trips in these towns. In Bhopal alone, 63 buses carry an estimated 43 thousand passengers in a total of 864 trips covering about 11951 km daily. Ten more buses are likely to be introduced shortly.

But in any case, an increase of 25 per cent flat is not to be taken lightly, at least the common man cannot afford to take it lightly. However, the MPSRTC has pointed out that the fare increase was allowed after a flat seven years. They claim that even after the hike, theirs is one of the cheapest bus services in the country.

But most of the passengers refute it pointing out that the services of Delhi Transport Corporation, which charges 'microscopic fares for long distances - the further you go, the less you pay are much cheaper. On the other hand, they maintain BEST's bus service is far much better to be compared with the Bhopal 'tin pots".

No wonder, except for a lone dissenter, "Commoner" could not find a single person, including quite a few bus conductors and drivers, who supported even the 25 per cent fare rise.

But he was an exception. By and large, the public complains that there was no justification for the hike, "You see even the price of diesel has not been increased."

Most of the critics feel that the fares were raised to help the MPSRTC come out of the financial red that it is in. The Corporation has suffered a cumulative loss of Rs. 5.14 crores during the last eleven years. In 1971-72 alone it suffered a loss of Rs. 11,900,000.

But why the public is made a scapegoat for the corruption and mismanagement prevailing in the MPSRTC, asked an irritant Passenger.

Hitavada 

December 12, 1973