Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Pennywise BMTC creates drought of bus passes

By Anil Sastry

BANGALORE AUG. 4. Holders of BMTC monthly bus passes of Rs. 200 denomination were in for a shock on Saturday as the BMTC announced that it had run out of passes.

In fact, all 35,000 passes of Rs. 200 denomination were sold out on a single day on July 31, when BMTC began issuing passes for August.

A similar situation occurred last month. Commuters could not get passes of Rs. 200 denomination after July 5.

According to Sidda Byrappa, a pass-holder, he could not get a satisfactory reply from the counter clerk at Vijayanagar bus stand. Instead, the employee advised Mr. Byrappa to go in for a pass of Rs. 340 denomination or Rs. 390.

The situation was similar in all major bus stands in the City, including Shivajinagar Bus Stand, KHB Colony, and Kempe Gowda Bus Stand. In fact, the BMTC had put up a board stating "Rs. 200 passes sold out" at the Kempe Gowda Bus Stand.

The BMTC had introduced the pass scheme a few years ago to check pilferage and to collect money in advance when its finances were bad. Over the years, monthly passes had become so popular that more than 1.5 lakh passes are sold every month.

When contacted, the Chief Traffic Manager, BMTC, Dastagir Sharief, told The Hindu that the corporation got the passes printed by a private agency. Orders would be issued based on the number of passes sold in the previous month. The corporation had placed orders to print 35,000 passes of Rs. 200 denomination for August, based on the sales of July, he said. The corporation used to burn 4,000 to 5,000 unsold passes every month. As such, it was placing orders only for the required number of passes, based on the sales of the previous month.

A number of commuters, who complained of shortage of passes, said that not all could buy passes on the first of every month, as a majority of them belonged to the salaried class.

The date of disbursement of salary differed from one organisation to another. BMTC should make passes available at least till the 10th of every month, they said.The BMTC Managing Director, Bipin Gopalakrishna, said the corporation would make adequate arrangements next month and would ensure that there was no shortage of passes.

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