Friday, July 14, 2006
Publlic Transport
I commute daily between Ghumarwin, where I stay, and Kallar village. Actually, most of the buses go to the tip of the village, a point knows as Kallar Moad (turn/junction for Kallar), where I get down and walk for around a km or so to reach the school. The ladies centre is also just 2 min walk from the school. Sometimes, I have to go to Berthin, a nearby town, to meet someone. If I am going there from Kallar, I will come back to Kallar Moad and then take a bus to Berthin.
There are two ways to reach Berthin from Ghumarwin – one via Nihari and Kalllar Moad and other is via Sunhani. Just after around a km from the Ghumarwin bus stop, as soon as the road cross the over-bridge on the khadd, it bifurcates – one goes to Nihari and another goes to Sunhani. Distance between Berthin and Ghumarwin via Nihari is roughly 16 km and via Sunhani is roughly 11 km. As you can see the distance is roughly 50% more via Nihari.
Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) runs its buses only on primary routes. They have asked private bus operators to run buses on secondary routes to provide good connectivity. Ghumarwin to Berthin, Nihari, Sunhani etc are secondary routes, so one can find only private buses plying on these routes. These private buses are smaller in size, and hence capacity, as compared to full size HRTC buses. Most of the private buses are in very decent condition, they do not bear any semblance to a steel box coming straight out of junkyard, which had been my experience with city bus services in the state of Uttar Pradesh, way back in early 1990s. In fact, you won’t find any damaged seats, non-working windows, broken seat-backs or damaged bumpers. The only thing, you wish was not working in the bus is its music system. As soon the bus starts, music is played at a very high volume and the ceiling mounted speakers can make you go mad, especially if you are standing and traveling. It would have been more tolerable if the music and the system are good, unfortunately, most of the time you would hear nth remix of a song played on a bad music system. The combination is really lethal.
Inconsistency in Fares
The fares between two points are supposedly fixed by HRTC, and these private operators are supposed to comply with it. Though, in practice, there is no fixed fare between two points. Every bus operator charges a fare of its own liking (to the degree that you can call it one’s whim and fancy). Mostly, I commute between Ghumarwin and Kallar Moad, and I have paid fares ranging from Rs. 6/- to Rs. 9/- (mostly either 8 or 9) per trip. Every time I ask the bus conductor, why it is different from the previous trip, he would say this is the fare, the previous trip guy won’t know, or some other story. In some cases, I got another rupee or so back after I lodged my protest, which surprises me, because it tells me that if I protest, I am going to get back some of my money.
As I mentioned before, there are two routes to travel between Ghumarwin and Berthin, and, the distance traveled is significantly different. Though, as I figured out recently, the fare between the two points is same, irrespective of which route you take. I am not sure why it is so, but it might have been done to ensure that buses ply on the longer route as well. Incidentally, most of the time, I have traveled to Berthin via Sunhani route. The other day, I was coming back from Berthin to Ghumarwin via Nihari route. The bus conductor asked me to pay him Rs. 12/-. When I said that the fare is Rs. 10/- which I have always paid on my previous trips, he said that Rs. 10/- is the fare when you take the shorter route (via Sunhani) not when you take the longer route (via Nihari). I told him it doesn’t sound right, but I had to pay him Rs. 12/- It so happened that the very next day I had to go to Berthin again and that day I went via longer route but the bus conductor charged me Rs. 10/- only.
After this, I spoke to some local folks who I know, and they told me that typically, these bus guys charge extra if they realize you are an outsider and not aware of these peculiarities. They advised me to give them exact change, so that they don’t have any mechanism to extract extra money from me.
Always late
These buses never run on time. Apparently, they have a schedule and they are supposed to adhere to it. Though, at a broader perspective you can say that they run on time, because the delay, generally, is not more than 15 min or so, but only at the starting point. Though such a seemingly small delay invariably causes problems because of what happens on the way, as explained below.
Since there are all villages and that too on a hilly terrain, residences are scattered all over the place, amidst green lush fields. There are many kucchha (non metal) roads along the way which lead to another cluster of houses or small villages. Put together, passengers are standing all over the place on the way. Incidentally, for whatever reason, people prefer door pickup than walking down to a nearby designated bus stop. Well, the notion of latter one is totally absent, anyway. While door pickup is indeed convenient, but people do not realize the cost they pay for this convenience - the bus is never able to gather speed due to frequent stopping. On a good day, the bus will stop every 250 m whereas on a normal day it will stop at every 150 m, either to pick up or drop off. This results in spending 40 min to cover a short distance of 13 km (from Ghumarwin to Kallar Moad). Though, after living here for a while, I realize why people don’t have a problem with this system. Time is in plenty; no one is in hurry for anything; everything moves at a snail’s pace; meeting times are not observed (I had meetings where few participants turned up as late as an hour, that too without any apology) etc.
If it is a wedding season (India has few identified time-periods through the year when most of the weddings take place) then it can be really irritating. Lot of these private buses get hired to transport wedding guests, so suddenly you will not find, say, a 2 PM bus plying. If one is waiting for the bus on the way and not at a major stop (say Ghurmarin or Berthin), one is doomed because one has no way of knowing that a specific bus is not plying today. One can keep waiting until it is time for next bus.
Passenger Density
The way passengers are squeezed into these buses, would, probably, put any compacting algorithm to shame. Typically, these buses have seats for around 20-24 people, but you will find at least 50 people in the bus. Best part is that no one is hanging on the foot-board and HP government has banned traveling on top of the buses. Sometimes it is really crazy to find that the bus is waiting at an important stop (say Nihari) to get more passengers even though you will see people standing in the bus.
There are two ways to reach Berthin from Ghumarwin – one via Nihari and Kalllar Moad and other is via Sunhani. Just after around a km from the Ghumarwin bus stop, as soon as the road cross the over-bridge on the khadd, it bifurcates – one goes to Nihari and another goes to Sunhani. Distance between Berthin and Ghumarwin via Nihari is roughly 16 km and via Sunhani is roughly 11 km. As you can see the distance is roughly 50% more via Nihari.
Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) runs its buses only on primary routes. They have asked private bus operators to run buses on secondary routes to provide good connectivity. Ghumarwin to Berthin, Nihari, Sunhani etc are secondary routes, so one can find only private buses plying on these routes. These private buses are smaller in size, and hence capacity, as compared to full size HRTC buses. Most of the private buses are in very decent condition, they do not bear any semblance to a steel box coming straight out of junkyard, which had been my experience with city bus services in the state of Uttar Pradesh, way back in early 1990s. In fact, you won’t find any damaged seats, non-working windows, broken seat-backs or damaged bumpers. The only thing, you wish was not working in the bus is its music system. As soon the bus starts, music is played at a very high volume and the ceiling mounted speakers can make you go mad, especially if you are standing and traveling. It would have been more tolerable if the music and the system are good, unfortunately, most of the time you would hear nth remix of a song played on a bad music system. The combination is really lethal.
Inconsistency in Fares
The fares between two points are supposedly fixed by HRTC, and these private operators are supposed to comply with it. Though, in practice, there is no fixed fare between two points. Every bus operator charges a fare of its own liking (to the degree that you can call it one’s whim and fancy). Mostly, I commute between Ghumarwin and Kallar Moad, and I have paid fares ranging from Rs. 6/- to Rs. 9/- (mostly either 8 or 9) per trip. Every time I ask the bus conductor, why it is different from the previous trip, he would say this is the fare, the previous trip guy won’t know, or some other story. In some cases, I got another rupee or so back after I lodged my protest, which surprises me, because it tells me that if I protest, I am going to get back some of my money.
As I mentioned before, there are two routes to travel between Ghumarwin and Berthin, and, the distance traveled is significantly different. Though, as I figured out recently, the fare between the two points is same, irrespective of which route you take. I am not sure why it is so, but it might have been done to ensure that buses ply on the longer route as well. Incidentally, most of the time, I have traveled to Berthin via Sunhani route. The other day, I was coming back from Berthin to Ghumarwin via Nihari route. The bus conductor asked me to pay him Rs. 12/-. When I said that the fare is Rs. 10/- which I have always paid on my previous trips, he said that Rs. 10/- is the fare when you take the shorter route (via Sunhani) not when you take the longer route (via Nihari). I told him it doesn’t sound right, but I had to pay him Rs. 12/- It so happened that the very next day I had to go to Berthin again and that day I went via longer route but the bus conductor charged me Rs. 10/- only.
After this, I spoke to some local folks who I know, and they told me that typically, these bus guys charge extra if they realize you are an outsider and not aware of these peculiarities. They advised me to give them exact change, so that they don’t have any mechanism to extract extra money from me.
Always late
These buses never run on time. Apparently, they have a schedule and they are supposed to adhere to it. Though, at a broader perspective you can say that they run on time, because the delay, generally, is not more than 15 min or so, but only at the starting point. Though such a seemingly small delay invariably causes problems because of what happens on the way, as explained below.
Since there are all villages and that too on a hilly terrain, residences are scattered all over the place, amidst green lush fields. There are many kucchha (non metal) roads along the way which lead to another cluster of houses or small villages. Put together, passengers are standing all over the place on the way. Incidentally, for whatever reason, people prefer door pickup than walking down to a nearby designated bus stop. Well, the notion of latter one is totally absent, anyway. While door pickup is indeed convenient, but people do not realize the cost they pay for this convenience - the bus is never able to gather speed due to frequent stopping. On a good day, the bus will stop every 250 m whereas on a normal day it will stop at every 150 m, either to pick up or drop off. This results in spending 40 min to cover a short distance of 13 km (from Ghumarwin to Kallar Moad). Though, after living here for a while, I realize why people don’t have a problem with this system. Time is in plenty; no one is in hurry for anything; everything moves at a snail’s pace; meeting times are not observed (I had meetings where few participants turned up as late as an hour, that too without any apology) etc.
If it is a wedding season (India has few identified time-periods through the year when most of the weddings take place) then it can be really irritating. Lot of these private buses get hired to transport wedding guests, so suddenly you will not find, say, a 2 PM bus plying. If one is waiting for the bus on the way and not at a major stop (say Ghurmarin or Berthin), one is doomed because one has no way of knowing that a specific bus is not plying today. One can keep waiting until it is time for next bus.
Passenger Density
The way passengers are squeezed into these buses, would, probably, put any compacting algorithm to shame. Typically, these buses have seats for around 20-24 people, but you will find at least 50 people in the bus. Best part is that no one is hanging on the foot-board and HP government has banned traveling on top of the buses. Sometimes it is really crazy to find that the bus is waiting at an important stop (say Nihari) to get more passengers even though you will see people standing in the bus.
// posted by amAUzed @ 9:43 AM 
Comments:
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Rohit,
I am absolutely fascinated to read about your experiences. Good luck and do keep the notes coming.
Regards,
Manoj
I am absolutely fascinated to read about your experiences. Good luck and do keep the notes coming.
Regards,
Manoj
Rohit,
Did the conductor give your a receipt for the Rs. 12 ticket? Or whenever it is that he charged a lower price for the ticket (Rs. 6)? Two possible scenarios: lower price and no receipt means that the conductor pocketed the money. higher price and receipt means that owner may have been on the route that day and he ripped you off realizing that you were new. In any case they have multiple copies of the receipt books.
The scenario your describe is the same all over India. In the more competitive routes private buses run very much on time as the schedules are so tightly packed and they stand to lose out if they are late as the bus running behind them (from some other company) is bound to overtake them and take their customers.
In Karnataka it is pretty interesting. I think the transport department has a policy in which a passenger can ask for a stop wheverever they want. So it is an official policy put in place to "compete" with the private buses (who as you describe stop anywhere).
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Did the conductor give your a receipt for the Rs. 12 ticket? Or whenever it is that he charged a lower price for the ticket (Rs. 6)? Two possible scenarios: lower price and no receipt means that the conductor pocketed the money. higher price and receipt means that owner may have been on the route that day and he ripped you off realizing that you were new. In any case they have multiple copies of the receipt books.
The scenario your describe is the same all over India. In the more competitive routes private buses run very much on time as the schedules are so tightly packed and they stand to lose out if they are late as the bus running behind them (from some other company) is bound to overtake them and take their customers.
In Karnataka it is pretty interesting. I think the transport department has a policy in which a passenger can ask for a stop wheverever they want. So it is an official policy put in place to "compete" with the private buses (who as you describe stop anywhere).
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