Afshan Yasmeen and B.B. Ravinandan

The Vajra vehicles carried over 170 commuters a trip against the capacity of 72

The promotional offer affected collections on non-Vajra regular BMTC buses

Drivers, conductors of Vajra buses lose out on commission

Bangalore: The Re.1 ride on Vajra buses of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has damaged a number of buses owing to overcrowding.

A top BMTC official told The Hindu on Monday that the tyres of at least five buses either burst or got punctured and the suspensions and blowers of a few other buses got damaged.

Apart from scratches on the window screens and tearing of seat fabric, the window glass of one Vajra bus (356 C route) shattered as angry commuters threw stones when the driver did not stop the already overcrowded bus at a particular stop.

The window frame of the hi-tech bus costs Rs. 20,000, official sources said.

Though the capacity of each Vajra bus (including standing) is 72, each of the 107 buses (on which the Re. 1 ride was valid) carried more than 170 commuters a trip on an average during the four-day promotional drive.

The Vajra fleet, which usually carried a total load of around 15,000 commuters daily, transported as many as 97,000 passengers on a single day during the drive.

While 72,000 commuters hopped onto the buses on Thursday, day one of the promotional offer, the number swelled to 97,000 the second day.

While 83,000 people travelled by the Vajra buses on the third day, 80,000 passengers used them on Sunday, the last day of the ride.

Meanwhile, Akash Passey, Managing Director of Volvo Buses India Private Limited, denied any damage. “The Vajra buses are well built with powerful engines. Though each bus can carry a maximum load of 100 persons, occasional overcrowding will not damage the vehicle. But because of the overcrowding there can always be pulls and pushes or knocking on the door or windows causing minor damages or scratches,” he said. “Overcrowding is not an issue and the Vajra buses are equipped to handle the load,” he added.

The promotional offer also affected collections on the 4,800 non-Vajra regular BMTC buses. With most of the 32 lakh commuters trying out the Volvo ride, the usual daily collection of nearly Rs. 1.40 crore reduced by Rs. 3 lakh, sources said.

Officials are confident that even if five per cent of the total 3.32 lakh new passengers preferred Vajra to the regular buses in future, the expenditure incurred on the promotional offer would be justified.

The drive also affected the drivers and conductors of the 107 buses, who lost out on their commission. Some drivers and conductors, who spoke to The Hindu on Monday, expressed displeasure that they lost out on their daily commission of 3 per cent for every Rs. 1,000 collected.

“We get a commission of three per cent for every Rs. 1,000. But, because of the cheap fare, the collection was less than Rs.1,000 a day we could not get any commission,” said K. Mustaq, a conductor.

Some employees said the promotional offer to attract passengers had actually adversely affected the corporation.

“At a time when the BMTC is claiming to have begun earning profits, this particular exercise has surely affected the revenue collection,” said R. Lalitha, another conductor.

Though the buses were jam packed and security personnel had to be deployed on each, the collections were far less than the regular revenue, she said. “On an average, we suffered a 30 per cent loss despite a large number of people using the service,” said Ramesh Kumar, a driver.

Another driver, Chandrashekar Shenoy, said that collection on the route of his non-Vajra bus halved as regular commuters had a shot at the Re. 1 ride on all the four days.

(Names of the employees have been changed.)