Despite spending crores to provide low-cost and efficient bus services, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has faced huge financial losses. The main reason is ticket theft and misbehavior by many bus conductors.
In the past 17 months, SMC has blacklisted 1,032 conductors after receiving many complaints. These included not giving tickets, misbehaving with passengers, and even harassing them.
SMC runs over 750 city and BRTS buses, which carry around 2 lakh passengers daily, including students, workers, and professionals.
However, many complaints were received that conductors were taking cash from passengers without giving tickets, and keeping the money for themselves. This not only caused money loss for SMC but also reduced people’s trust in public buses.
To stop this, SMC formed a special vigilance team to check the behavior of bus staff. This team helped in catching and reporting the guilty conductors, leading to strict action.
Somnath Marathe, Chairman of SMC’s Public Transport Service, said:
“Earlier, conductors were just suspended and later reinstated. But now we have a strict zero-tolerance policy. Whether it’s speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, not giving tickets, or not following the dress code — we are taking serious action.”
Even though SMC has worked hard to improve city transport with affordable buses, the repeated bad behavior of conductors has affected public confidence.
Now, SMC is trying to win back public trust by strictly punishing those who don’t follow rules. It has also warned that any future violations by conductors or drivers will face strict action.