Passengers in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) buses are being taken for a ride after being charged exorbitantly, going by claims of consumer rights activists.

Buses charge these unfair fares for limited stop and express services when they do not have proper permits, according to A Manoj, consumer rights activist of the Coimbatore Chamber of Consumers. These services were being run without obtaining valid permits from the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) and are in violation of the Government order on the 2011 revised bus fare structure issued by the State Government, he asserts.

“According to the last fare revision structure, effected in 2011, the minimum fare is fixed at Rs 3 for city buses. But the TNSTC authorities have violated this by converting a part of the fleet into LS and express services without obtaining due permission from respective RTO offices. As a result, passengers unwittingly are made to shell out more in the name of travelling in LS and express buses. These are not special services but ordinary ones and collecting extra fare,” Manoj alleged.

“While the TNSTC converts many ordinary buses into LSS and Express with impunity, there are no fare charts or display boards (in the front and rear) or on the side of the foot board,” he says.

This is a clear case of violation of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. Passengers are only confused and do not know which of these are LSS buses or an ordinary ones as they all look same but charge differently.

Covaipost’s enquiry with a number of passengers and RTO officials point an accusing finger at the TNSTC Coimbatore division.

Coimbatore Central RTO S. Udayakumar told Coviapost: “Most number of excessive fare violation cases in the name of running LS and express services are registered in Coimbatore city only. The LS and express services are run with impunity in all routes and without due permission from the RTO offices in the city. The TNSTC authorities are duty- bound to explain this malpractice which is in vogue in this division.”.

Alleging that TNSTC buses were not maintained properly due to poor procurement policies adopted by TNSTC Coimbatore division, he said some of the depots were understaffed and maintenance work was not carried out regularly. As a result commuters were at the receiving end, he added.

Passengers are equally dissatisfied with the state of affairs of buses and services in the division “Deluxe buses charge a minimum fare of Rs. 7 and services are deluxe only in the name. Most of the bus seat cushions are torn and not replaced regularly. We, the unwitting commuters, are to travel, sitting on a hard plastic seat and forced to shell out the extra buck for this inconvenient ride on bumpy roads,” said one of the commuters.

“These deluxe buses were bought under the JNNURM scheme introducing the Tata-make brand Marco Polo. These buses, which proved a failure even in Delhi, are not suited for the bad roads which are a norm in Coimbatore. So one gets a bumpy ride in the name of deluxe travel,” says another commuter V.Suresh.

TNSTC conductor Rajendran (name changed) blames the higher authorities in the corporation for the sorry state of affairs. “They are incentivised for running the fleet for a maximum number of kilometers. The officialdom is lethargic and so fleet maintenance has suffered. But the workforce, which actually runs the fleet – drivers and conductors – get nothing,” he says.

The corporation is a loss-making body, primarily because the higher authorities want maximum number of trips and some of them collect very little, he says and blames the time-keepers for not following the schedule. Rajendran also has a suggestion to tide over the crisis – introduce incentives for daily collections and TNSTC will be out of the red.

A senior TNSTC official Covaipost contacted said the corporation Coimbatore division was following the GO issued on bus fare revision 2011 in `letter and spirit’. The new LS and express services were introduced only when new buses were allotted or procured by the division, he claimed. However, TNSTC Coimbatore Division General Manger E. Govindarajan was not available for comment, despite numerous attempts made by Covaipost to contact him.