- Bribe Fighter
- 10 years ago
- 3730 views
This may sound like a very minor incident. But I'm speaking about…
This may sound like a very minor incident. But I'm speaking about it here, because I feel that this is the one of those lowest levels at which we need to stop encouraging corruption.
Today I took a BMTC bus, G-10, at around 2:25 pm from Vidyasagar to Arabic College. It's just 2 stops away, but I'm not a regular bus user so I didn't know how much the ticket would cost. I handed over Rs. 10 to the conductor and told him my destination. He took the money and indicated me to sit at an empty seat. I expected him to follow and give me my ticket, but he just sat in the front at a ladies seat without bothering. I waited for some time expecting he would give me my ticket, but he just didn't even after the first stop. I again ask him for the ticket, and now he says that the ticket costs Rs. 14 but nobody would check at Arabic college (my destination) and indicated I could travel ticket-less so that he could pocket the 10 rupees. Now this is a routine thing on BMTC buses that conductors allow ticket-less travel by pocketing smaller amounts. But I insisted that I wanted a ticket. So now he changes tactics by saying that he doesn't have change so I need to give him exactly 4 rupees more for the ticket. One of their regular tactics to force passengers to pay extra. Luckily I did have 4 rupees in change and got the ticket. Later that evening my mom who takes the bus regularly says that the ticket actually costs Rs. 12. But I didn't care about the extra 2 bucks since he did give me a Rs. 14 ticket and at least I made the effort to not let him have the money for himself.
I know this practice of ticket-less travel by "bribing" the conductor is very rampant here in Bangalore. I urge every citizen to not encourage such 'chalta hai' attitude. After all, corruption really starts at such lower levels. Stop feeding it. In cases where the conductor says he doesn't have change, ask him to issue a ticket that is the next higher rounded up figure. The logic is that money spent through tickets can return back to you in terms of better services, but the money you give as bribe will only vanish from the economy.