PANJIM, OCT 7
Transport Department’s drive to weed out irregularities in public transport system is paying back to the private bus operators.
Sources stated that the revenue of private bus operators have gone up as unaccounted money has been controlled.
“Several conductors had fixing with passengers which use to lead to loss of revenue but now this has been under control as they have to issue tickets,” sources said.
Sources said that the bus operators themselves were so confused that they were not able to detect the actual cause for loss in their business.
“They unnecessarily blamed transport department for their losses. The fact was that they had no control over their business as it was operational under leadership of errant conductors and drivers,” sources stated.
The private bus operators had once also alleged that in the absence of tickets the conductors and drivers used to siphon apart of the income from the total collection.
The members of the All Goa Private Bus Owners Association were not available for comments over the issue.
Meanwhile, the transport department has said that the drive to keep a check over errant drivers and conductors has been a success till date.
“On an average we use to receive 20-30 complaints from commuters over rude behavior of conductors and rush driving. Now the number has literally gone down. There have been two-three complaints in last five days,” transport director Arun Desai said.
The director was satisfied the way, the drive has bought changes in the bus transport system in the state. “I have personally seen conductors issuing tickets for correct fares. Both drivers and conductors have started wearing uniform while on duty and you will see the doors been shut of most buses while running,” he said.
“But the most important change has been reduction in the consumption of alcohol and tobacco while on duty,” director added.
The drive, which kicked off on October 1 after private bus operators agreed to the fact that they have no control over erring drivers and conductors, has till date booked 250 cases. The challans have been mostly issued for overloading, non-production of documents, non-wearing of uniforms and absence of fare tables.
The director however agreed that the drive has failed to contain over loading of buses. “Its something we cannot control,” Desai said.
Desai said that the main intension of the drive is to bring discipline in the system to give efficient and safe bus transport to the public.
“The drive is not aimed to increase revenue but we want more and more people to avail the benefits of best public transport,” he said.
