The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) only last week restored the crucial feature of ‘total cash collection’ in the current ticketing device, much to the relief of conductors who had complained of tallying discrepancies and salary cuts as high as Rs2,000 in the period following the feature’s removal. With the feature restored, conductors will now be able to see the cash balance after a bus trip and subsequently at the end of every shift.
Before removal of this feature, it used to help transfer crucial information to the manager of the respective bus depot, the PMPML accounting department, and the PMPML cashier through cloud computing. The money would then be tallied between the conductor and the device. Additionally, the device interface would show fare table, PRN loaded route or routes taken by the bus, all trip or collection of all trips made by the bus, and inspection report or number of passengers ferried by the bus. The feature was later removed as some conductors were caught pocketing the extra money. After removal of the feature however, things started getting difficult for conductors. Vishal Dhile, a conductor at the PMPML electric bus (e-bus) depot at Pune railway station, said, “We get month-end charts that display our name and a number. On these charts are the numbers indicating the difference between the total amount of our deposits and the cash balance stated on the device. This difference is deducted from our monthly salaries.”
When the salary of a conductor itself is just Rs20,000 to Rs30,000 based on experience, the person is bound to feel the pinch with any deduction. Removal of the feature was also a drawback in overcrowded buses. Anil Bhutambre, a conductor at the Swargate PMPML bus depot, said, “With the cash report, we would check the cash balance. If the money we had in hand was higher, we would give the customer change. Since we could not see these details after the feature was removed, it resulted in unnecessary harassment from commuters.”
{{/usCountry}}When the salary of a conductor itself is just Rs20,000 to Rs30,000 based on experience, the person is bound to feel the pinch with any deduction. Removal of the feature was also a drawback in overcrowded buses. Anil Bhutambre, a conductor at the Swargate PMPML bus depot, said, “With the cash report, we would check the cash balance. If the money we had in hand was higher, we would give the customer change. Since we could not see these details after the feature was removed, it resulted in unnecessary harassment from commuters.”
{{/usCountry}}Dattaray Zende, chief transport manager, PMPML, said, “There is an unwritten rule for all conductors about whether a passenger needs or owes change. Conductors punch either the left or right side of a ticket, which is a mental indicator of whether the passenger has given a higher note. If the passenger’s money has already been paid, the conductor tears the ticket slightly. Salary cuts owing to failure to abide by this thumb rule are the conductors’ responsibility. Higher deposit amounts are kept in the PMPML bank account because the extra cash belongs to the public and not to them.”
“Sometimes, conductors do not give tickets to passengers, leading to discrepancies. For that, we have at least 100 ‘checkers’ who randomly supervise whether every passenger has been given a ticket or not. Since we have a limited number of checkers, such a situation occurs either early in the morning or late at night and it is not possible to check if every conductor is carrying out his duties honestly,” Zende said.