It’s heartening that a public service of great import has been launched recently in the form of the Shillong Public Transport Service (SPTS). This has met with unprecedented public approval. After several dark decades there is something to cheer about a public utility service that caters to the public good. The JNNURM buses are a great leveler. Everyone uses then because they save both time and money. There is no class system here. It’s first come first served! Since the buses operate on busy routes at short intervals, they are also not too overcrowded. Hence there is enough space in the bus which passengers enjoy after having been sandwiched in overcrowded taxis for decades. There are, however, several concerns expressed by users of the services which Government needs to take note of in these early stages of operation of the SPTS. Initial vigilance would prevent a lot of heartburns in the long run. The propensity to make a quick buck is inherent in every human being. These buses, because they belong to the Government, will be seen as milking cows by those employed to run the services. It’s nobody’s case that the Government run corporation MTC, is today in a shambles. Employees have been retrenched mainly because the Corporation had over-employed. Gradually, it became a sick unit requiring regular pumping of funds from the government coffers to resuscitate it time and again.
The SPTS should not go the way of the MTC run transport system. The services need to be sustainable in the larger interest of the public. For this to happen the driver:conductor: passenger ratio should be that followed by commercial vehicles. The SPTS is a public carrier that should be run profitably. That should not be a problem since there are more then enough users. However, at the end of the day it’s all about profit and loss, about balancing the accounts books and getting them audited faithfully.
From public observation, the only hitch today is that the ticketing system is not fool proof. Many passengers pay their fares but don’t get tickets in return. They do not make a big deal out of it but they should. When a conductor does not give a ticket for the money he receives, he is actually pocketing the money. This means a loss of revenue for the Government. Beyond a point the accumulated loss cannot be sustained. As a result the buses will be pulled off the road. The vehicles also need regular maintenance and repair works. They have to generate enough income to pay for these repairs. The Transport Department has to work out a workable revenue model for the SPTS. Only then will the services sustain.