Karnataka's Transport Minister, Byrathi Suresh, went on an undercover ride on BMTC buses and was asked to get off for not having exact change. Following his experience, the BMTC has issued a strict directive to its staff to not offload passengers over change issues and instead guide them to use UPI payments.
The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has issued a strict warning to its drivers and conductors against offloading passengers who don’t have exact change, days after transport minister Byrathi Suresh faced the same treatment during an undercover ride on city buses. Suresh rode more than ten BMTC buses across Bengaluru for two hours on Saturday night while wearing a surgical mask to prevent both passengers and bus employees from identifying him. He travelled along roads that included Jayamahal, TV Tower, RT Nagar, CBI Road, Hebbal, Manyata Tech Park, Nagawara, Hennur, and Byrathi Bande before arriving at Geddalahalli between 7:10 and 9:10 p.m. He paid the full cost on each bus and took advantage of the opportunity to talk to other passengers about their daily commutes.
What Happened?
On a bus from Hebbal to Nagashettihalli, Suresh requested the conductor for two tickets and gave him a Rs 100 note. The conductor warned the customer to get off if he couldn't pay the exact amount after opening his cash bag to see that he was also short on change. Suresh got off the bus without protesting and remained silent about his identification.
Additionally, from another bus he was riding on, he saw a bus miss a stop in spite of a rider gesturing for it to stop. Once he had established what transpired, he had the driver and conductor of that bus hauled off duty.
Another eye-opening experience was a brief autorickshaw ride: the meter showed Rs 30, but the driver demanded Rs 36, saying the meter needed to be recalibrated. Suresh let it go after paying Rs 40.
BMTC's Response
Raghunandan Murthy, the managing director of BMTC, issued directions in response to the findings that directly address how employees handle passengers: no commuter should be refused transport or ordered to get off a bus just because they lack precise change. Instead, employees have been instructed to aggressively direct travellers to the UPI payment option that is accessible via the dynamic QR scanners installed on ETM machines across the fleet.
On the disciplinary side, drivers and conductors who draw repeated complaints from the public will be sent for soft-skills training at the Vaddarahalli centre. Staff who receive positive feedback from commuters, on the other hand, will be recognised with a certificate of appreciation from BMTC’s head office
