By Aafaque Hussain
SHILLONG: In a bid to confront the non-issuance of tickets by the SPTS bus conductors who allegedly pocket the money leading to a loss of revenue, the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) is planning to come out with a unique initiative to generate greater enthusiasm among the commuters in asking for tickets.
A Government official here informed The Shillong Times that under the proposed plan of the MUDA, the tickets that will be issued by the conductors of the buses will bear a slot for the contact number of the passenger. The MUDA plans to conduct a lucky draw every few months where a passenger will be gifted prizes, which would enable a trimming down of the evasion of revenue.
“This is the way to incentivize passengers to insist on tickets from the bus conductors,” the official said on the request of anonymity.
The MUDA will start the new initiative soon. The idea has seen remarkable success in Bhopal where a similar system was adopted to insist passengers to ask for tickets and challenging bus operators to keep a tab on the conductors.
It may be mentioned that one hundred SPTS buses are operating in the city and since November last till June this year, the buses were able to generate huge revenue of Rs 30 lakh out of which half of the amount is borne out the by the private operators who are running these services.
Though the buses have been able to provide the much needed relief to the passengers, yet there are many areas and localities within the city which are yet to be covered by the services.
Taking note of the absence of unavailability of the bus services in many localities, the State Government has already moved the Union Government to sanction more buses for the State.
The MUDA, which is the nodal agency for operation of the buses, has engaged a private consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the procurement of new buses.
The consultant will make the DPR after conducting a proper survey of the buses which are required for different areas of the city and the state.
The MUDA will soon roll out the smart cards where a passenger has to recharge his card with a specific amount to travel in the buses for a fixed period of days thus saving the trouble of buying tickets on a daily basis.
It is learnt that some smart cards have already been printed.