Chennai: Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) staff of the ticket section seem to have started a new business out of Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETM).
While contractors of ETM claim that they give lanyard (strap worn around the neck to carry the machine) free of cost, conductors complain that the ticket section staff have been selling it at different prices.
“If it is made out of cotton, the cover of ETM along with the strap is priced at '30, other synthetic ones range from Rs 80-120. When questioned against it, they have been telling us that the ETMs do not come with lanyards attached nowadays,” said one of the conductors at KK Nagar bus depot.
It is sometimes the ticketing staff and sometimes outsiders near Koyambedu bus depot who sell these lanyards. As using the machine without the strap and collecting money almost gets impossible during peak hours with at least 100 passengers on board, they are forced to shell out money from their own pockets for something that has to be made available at free of cost.
“Conductors unable to afford the lanyards are working without them. At times, when conductors apply sudden breaks, ETM slips and stops working and in cases like this, penalty is collected from the conductor,” said K.Anbazhagan, joint secretary, Nethaji Transport Union.
He further added that a conductor on a full shift, which is 16-18 hours per day, is given two ticket machines because they quickly get discharged. There have been times when conductors were charged a penalty for misplacing the ETMs (ironically there is no place provided for this in the bus).
Other issues in ETMs including paper getting stuck, low charge, sudden change of dates still remain despite of several complaints.
When contacted, a senior MTC official said the straps are given each year at free of cost and only the conductors who do not want to use the old lanyards replace them by buying. However, conductors deny it.
