Vijay Kumar Sharma
The public transport is a mass transit system that caters the transportation needs of a large population and is considered to be a system which can control the unprecedented growth of personal vehicles and extreme traffic congestion on the roads. Public transport does not mean that the public is provided with the Metros in the city. If the existing fleet of private minibuses and buses is organised, many of the problems of commuters through public transport can be solved. On most of the routes the mini buses are plying at a frequency of less than 5 minutes. The journey through public transport is quite comfortable and cheap as compared to driving personal vehicles. But still people prefer to commute by personal conveyance which is more hectic and costlier. In addition, it leads to atmospheric pollution by burning of considerable quantity of fuels and traffic congestion on the roads and in the city.
The reasons that compel the common man to opt personal conveyance against public transport include safety, uncertainty in time of travel, and mental peace. To travel a distance of say 15-20 kms the time of travel may vary from 20 minutes to one and half hour. If someone boards a minibus taking 20 minutes he will reach his destination well before the scheduled time but he has to travel with his heart in the mouth as driving is so rash and negligent and there is no body to check or control this all along the way and there is every apprehension of some untoward incident. And the day one boards the minibus taking 90 minutes, he will be late to reach the destination. The minibus may stop at all the bus stops waiting for the passengers irrespective of the number of passengers on board in the vehicle. No sooner a minibus/bus is seen approaching from behind, it starts talking to air but again becomes standstill suddenly at the next stop. The passengers packed like animals with the stereo playing intolerable tracks at unbearable volume are helpless as there is no body whom one can approach and tell the trouble. If someone gains the courage to enquire against this nonsense, his words turn to deaf ears and some silly argumentation may arise with the operators boasting of the fact that they have paid…………. to the concerned and can ply the vehicle at will. At last, the passenger ends up with holding his head feeling self guilty of falling into discussion with such arrogant people.
There are two basic aspects which can take the system a long way in the benefit of the society. These are:
* Educating the people in profession
* Systematic planning, management and approach of the authorities.
The problem is that the owners and operators of the buses/minibuses are not having sufficient information and knowledge about the ways, rules, and methods for conduct of their profession. They are not organised and are wasting their energy and resources in competing with one another. When the number of passengers travelling and the number of buses plying is fixed, the essence should be that the passengers wait at a stop for the bus; the bus arrives, picks up and leaves but a totally opposite method is in practice.
At the bus stops and the crossings a number of minibuses are parked haphazardly with the conductors shouting the destination while the driver pressing the accelerator again and again in neutral mode unnecessarily to attract the passengers. But, there is nobody to make them understand that they are wasting the fuel and energy unnecessarily because the passengers have to board anyhow. The passenger is at the receiving end and not these professionals. Being the owner, the service provider like in any business, they deserve respect and recognition just by learning how to behave, how to dress up and how to present, they can achieve respect in the society. The passengers can take pride in travelling comfortably and peacefully and share the good experiences. If they stop only at the stops, the passenger has to walk to the stop and there will be no need of sudden stoppages in the middle of the road anywhere for a passenger.
All this is possible if the operators are organised by framing a central public transport body which is registered with the authorities and is responsible for the day to day and even minute to minute operation of the system in the present hi-tech era. All the vehicles, drivers and conductors should be registered with this body. There should be some basic qualification, a dress code and a registration/identification number/card for the drivers and conductors and a numbered ticket is provided for every travel to the passenger. In no case a person is allowed to operate unless he is given permanent membership by this organisation. In case of any kind of inconvenience, the passenger could easily approach this organisation with the ticket for the redressal of his grievance. The member responsible for the act if found guilty be penalised by this organisation and the habitual offenders are expelled out.
As far as, authorities are concerned, in addition to monitoring construction and functioning of the organisation, the public transport body, as the fares are fixed and regulated by them, the time table and frequency on different routes for different stops depending upon the distance and the number of passengers can also be framed, fixed and regulated by the authorities which will prove to be a single solution for this complex problem without making much investments for creation of additional staff and infrastructure. This, however, can be done more effectively in coordination with the body registered with the authorities.
These small steps will be beneficial for the society on the whole in following ways:
* The commuters can plan their time of travel to reach their destinations.
* The speed will be regulated automatically, there will be no overtaking/mad racing for picking up more and more passengers and no unnecessary stopping and waiting for the next bus to come as well as no sudden braking in the middle of the roads. All this will lead to safety thereby avoiding accidents.
* There will be reduced overloading, especially in the outskirts of the city due to a fixed time table, which being a major cause of accidents in the rural areas.
* The need for construction and maintenance of road and flyover infrastructure will be lesser as existing lanes will be enough to accommodate the traffic because the public transport will ply on single lane system on a two way system at a universal speed with recommended stoppages and the commuters by personal conveyance switching over to public transport.
* The problem of parking of fleets of minibuses/buses haphazardly at the crossings and stops will be over and there will no traffic jams at these points.
* This will result into more and more commuters shifting over to the public transport which in turn will reduce the traffic congestion on the roads, atmospheric pollution, noise pollution and consumption of non-renewable energy source and above all increase in the income of the operators.
* The operators will save on account of less fuel consumption, less maintenance of vehicle as wear and tear will reduce and paying illegally to the concerned.
* The problem of unemployment will be addressed to some extent as the educated youth will take pride in being a registered member of the reputed organisation (organised sector).
* When the public transport industry is organised, the Government can also earn revenue by levying tax on the income as the processes of maintenance and audit of accounts of the operators registered with the organisation will come into force due to introduction of ticketing system. This will, however, lead to a little extra burden on the pocket of the commuter but it will be negligible as compared to the benefits.
* And lastly, due to availability of cheaper, faster and peaceful transport system the migration from the outskirt villages to the city will be reduced to some extent thereby the relieving the already overstrained infrastructure of the city.
All this is not going to happen overnight, but if a little is tried a lot can be achieved for the common man of the society. Let us always remember:
“Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land”.
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