Ripples on the brain

The news about the facelift to bus termini in Chennai caught my attention.

“Think of bus termini in the city sporting marble flooring in place of the dusty, pot-holed bus bays, a small play area for children to while away time till their bus arrives and digital display boards showing the expected time of arrival and location of the bus.”

I think the MTC passengers’ discomfort has more to do with the attitude of the bus crew rather than facilities the termini per se. I have been to most of the major bus termini in the city and problems just stare you at the face:
1. Buses don’t stop inside the terminus. Don’t trust me? Visit the Besant Nagar bus depot. Though a vast, covered terminus has been constructed, buses mostly stop outside the terminus.
2. Display of bus timings need not require electronic boards (yes, they will definitely be more comfortable, but if the MTC really wants to help the passengers, they can do it even now). My father tells us that all the pre-1969, all the buses used to have a small black board where the bus crew would write the time the bus would leave. This was a very simple solution and would definitely not involve too much work from the crew. But, the pampering of the State employees by the subsequent State governments with an eye on the vote bank ensured that they avoided doing even the simple things that help the passengers.
I had pretty scary experience a year ago in Central Station bus terminus. I boarded the route 1 (from Central to Thiruvanmiyur) at the Central Station at 5:45am after returning to Chennai early morning. I could see the bus crew moving from coffee to biscuits to newspapers while the tired passengers from the overnight trip didn’t even have an idea of when the bus would start. When it was 6:10am, I approached the “time-keeper” to ask him when the bus would leave to which he replied 6am. I politely showed him the time at the Central Station tower. He got irritated and responded that the bus would start once “sufficient” number of passengers board the buses. I asked him what “sufficient” meant since there were atleast 15 passengers in the bus, most of them with heavy luggages, like me. What followed was something I cannot forget - around 10 bus drivers and conductors confronted me and talked absolute nonsense defending themselves with some obscure reasons; some even threatened to hit me (one said to the time-keeper, “neenga mattum inge ille na, inge ivana deal panre vithame vera sir“). I should also add here that none of passengers in the bus came to my rescue at that time.
3. Most of the bus drivers also adopt sinister ways to fool passengers. They start their buses and drive it to a short distance, and as passengers get in with great difficulty, stop the bus again outside the terminus and return to their tea shop. The sadistic smile on their faces for having fooled the passengers cannot be missed.
4. There are no time tables available in most of the bus termini; even if one is available, it is almost always never adhered to. Time keepers, when confronted by passengers, blame it on things like traffic, unavailability of enough number of buses that are beyond their control. Ask them the reason why 2 buses with route number 29C just left the terminus one after the other, they just sport a weak smile.

Hence, I think the proposal of the State government can only be termed Paswanque (remember former railway minister, Paswan, painting the exterior of the train coaches even when the interior stank with unclean toilets, dirty floors and poorly maintained berths). Without changing the general attitude of their employees, I don’ think any proposal would benefit the public.