KSRTC Ticket machines: still a distant dream for many conductors

Thursday
Kozhikode, November 10

KSRTC bus conductors still make liberal use of their saliva while issuing tickets for assengers as the corporation is yet to supply the electronic ticket machines to a good number of them. Thanks to the lack of ETM availability and the machines' own tendency to go on a blink, most conductors are still forced to make do with the admittedly user-hostile ticket racks.

Though the ETMs came into use in KSRTC nearly four years ago- the aim was to reach the benefits of computerized ticketing systems to conductors and ultimately the Road Transport Corporation itself- the machines are still a rarity for many depots, including the ones at Thottilpalam and Vadakara in Kozhikode district.

Asked about the issue, Kozhikode District Transport Officer R K Raveendran said the ETMs were not distributed to some depots owing to their insuffient supply. The much-hyped,light-weight ETMs accurate and its computerized `summery facility' is supposed to free the conductors from the burden of carrying the heavy ticket racks. Says a conductor of Thottilpalam depot," We have been waiting for the ETMs but the authoroities, citing technical reasons, have denied us access to these machines."
But ironically, conductors who have already had a `taste' of the new machines are are not all that happy with them. ETMs keep springing unpleasant surprises on them and these technical problems of the machines are often a headache.

Said Ajith Kumar, a conductor of Mananthavady depot, "Though the machine is useful in finding the summery of the trip, the warrant tickets given tot police officers cannot be marked in it. This causes problems while tallying the summary and the number of tickets.''

Further the battery of the machine does not last long, occasionally leaving the conductors in a limbo of sorts. The KSRTC is now in the process of replacing the old ETMs with the latest models, which can issue 99 tickets at one go and the battery will last for five days. But nobody is quite sure of the new machine ever landing in the hands of conductors of rural depots. Nor is there any guarantee that it wont pose the same technical problems that the old ones almost regularly did.