Small Is Beautiful
Over the last weekend , I visited Trichy to go to few temples. I drove in from Chennai starting Mid-day and after a comfortable drive reached Trichy in time to go to the Lovely Srirangam temple. Having driven from Chennai , I did not want to drive from the Central Bus Stand where we were staying to Srirangam which is a 10 Km drive and it would have to be through the narrow roads and some traffic. My wife and I stepped out looking for a three wheeler but there was a private bus ready to go to Srirangam. We hopped in . The bus was not crowded but we could not find seats to sit. We were told it will be a 25 minute journey. There was no time pressure and so it was fine. I noticed that the private bus has two conductors—one to issue tickets in the front aisle and the other at the back. I also noticed that people did not step up to buy the tickets. ( I did step and buy )The conductors has to ask each of the seated passengers to buy the ticket. One person asked for a “Three rupee ticket”. He refused to tell where he wanted to go ! The conductor argued but finally gave a three rupee ticket and told him to get off at the place where the Three ticket would permit.
As the bus trudged on through the market , Palakarai , Malakottai , Chatram Bus stand in to Srirangam , at the Market , we had a Ticket Inspector get in. Both the Conductors became grim and went to the Footboard of the bus. The ticket checker did something interesting that invited my attention and also took me back to my article ship days of training for my Chartered Accountancy Degree. The ticket checker not only checked each passenger for the ticket but also referred the ticket back to a Master list that he had of all denominations of the tickets and the serial numbers that had been issued to the two conductors. This check was done to ensure that the ticket was an authorized one and not a duplicate one. The checker got off as he found all passengers had tickets and also bonafide ones.
What happened during my article ship days was different. It was a private transport company that operated in the North Arcot district and headquartered in Vellore. As we began our audit process, the owner of the bus service told us that the buses went full but his revenues did not match the capacity utlisation. That prompted us to check out few routes and do spot checks . We hopped in to the buses at various points. We noticed that all passengers had bought tickets but we discovered huge revenue leakage> The modus operandi was clever but very simple. The conductors of the various routes had their own tickets with different serial numbers printed and being issued. The Bus transport owner was ever grateful to us for picking this up. Guess , the ticket checking now has closed this risk with the checkers having the serial numbers of the tickets that have been issued. Ideally, with automated machines to issue tickets this risk will be covered but it will be sometime till everyone automates. And so the need to check and check !
Just getting back to "Small is beautiful" , the bus got pulled off the road by the Police and I lost my patience , hopped in to an Auto near Chatram bus stand and the fare that was demanded was ridiculously low for a three wheeler ride. My wife thought , I heard the amount incorrectly but at the end of the ride , when I gave the fare, the auto guy was very pleased. I for sure can bet , I would have paid thrice what I paid if it was in Chennai for the same distance and also would have had an argument and haggled.
Post Darshan of the Lord , it was time to walk the streets of Srirangam , do window shopping and eating peanuts was the right thing to do . I again made a mistake . I got more than what I wanted although I paid lesser. There was so much given that it lasted till next day evening. In Chennai , would have got one third quantity and the quality of the fried gram was so excellent. Did the same bus ride back to Central Bus stand but this time used the government bus . No hassles at all and No ticket checking enroute. There were other things as well . Dinner was good and reasonable . Facility was as good in any other place.
All this made me wonder what drove the economics in these places – The bus fare was paltry for the 10 KM trip, the auto ride and the fare was so reasonable , the peanuts were good in terms of quality, quantity and price. So why does the same thing go up in Metros ? Because we can afford to pay ? Is the cost not the same for these vendors in Trichy as it is in Chennai.
Small is beautiful !
As the bus trudged on through the market , Palakarai , Malakottai , Chatram Bus stand in to Srirangam , at the Market , we had a Ticket Inspector get in. Both the Conductors became grim and went to the Footboard of the bus. The ticket checker did something interesting that invited my attention and also took me back to my article ship days of training for my Chartered Accountancy Degree. The ticket checker not only checked each passenger for the ticket but also referred the ticket back to a Master list that he had of all denominations of the tickets and the serial numbers that had been issued to the two conductors. This check was done to ensure that the ticket was an authorized one and not a duplicate one. The checker got off as he found all passengers had tickets and also bonafide ones.
What happened during my article ship days was different. It was a private transport company that operated in the North Arcot district and headquartered in Vellore. As we began our audit process, the owner of the bus service told us that the buses went full but his revenues did not match the capacity utlisation. That prompted us to check out few routes and do spot checks . We hopped in to the buses at various points. We noticed that all passengers had bought tickets but we discovered huge revenue leakage> The modus operandi was clever but very simple. The conductors of the various routes had their own tickets with different serial numbers printed and being issued. The Bus transport owner was ever grateful to us for picking this up. Guess , the ticket checking now has closed this risk with the checkers having the serial numbers of the tickets that have been issued. Ideally, with automated machines to issue tickets this risk will be covered but it will be sometime till everyone automates. And so the need to check and check !
Just getting back to "Small is beautiful" , the bus got pulled off the road by the Police and I lost my patience , hopped in to an Auto near Chatram bus stand and the fare that was demanded was ridiculously low for a three wheeler ride. My wife thought , I heard the amount incorrectly but at the end of the ride , when I gave the fare, the auto guy was very pleased. I for sure can bet , I would have paid thrice what I paid if it was in Chennai for the same distance and also would have had an argument and haggled.
Post Darshan of the Lord , it was time to walk the streets of Srirangam , do window shopping and eating peanuts was the right thing to do . I again made a mistake . I got more than what I wanted although I paid lesser. There was so much given that it lasted till next day evening. In Chennai , would have got one third quantity and the quality of the fried gram was so excellent. Did the same bus ride back to Central Bus stand but this time used the government bus . No hassles at all and No ticket checking enroute. There were other things as well . Dinner was good and reasonable . Facility was as good in any other place.
All this made me wonder what drove the economics in these places – The bus fare was paltry for the 10 KM trip, the auto ride and the fare was so reasonable , the peanuts were good in terms of quality, quantity and price. So why does the same thing go up in Metros ? Because we can afford to pay ? Is the cost not the same for these vendors in Trichy as it is in Chennai.
Small is beautiful !
Comments
Did you notice that the private buses were in stainless steel finish and the government buses were in typical Kumbakonam depot's green/yellow livery? You have taken the most famous bus route in Trichy - 1 from Junction to Srirangam :) You have described the route itself so vividly as it is written near the window panel (Palakkarai, Bouleward Road, Main Guard Gate, Chathram, TV Koil)... Why did the police pull the bus off? Was it an RTO inspection?
I have seen some ticket-checkers doing the serial number check in PTC too - but it is very rare.
On how do they afford to sell at lower rates: two things come to my mind - 1. it is a cycle, produce comes directly from farms at lower price (most of them own farm lands too), lesser overheads, lesser price, this benefit is passed along and 2. supply-driven inflation - when I am ready to shell out more, the demand goes up. When we stop and negotiate, the price becomes reasonable - classic example is the autos in Chennai.