According to the conductor of one of the buses, the server at Poisar depot, which controls these GPRS-enabled handheld terminals called Electronic Ticket Issuing Machines, were playing truant since morning.
Commuters on some BEST buses operating out of the Poisar depot in Kandivli were in for a surprise on Monday when they were given the old-style tickets punched by conductors instead of the glossy ones from the handheld ticketing machines.
According to the conductor of one of the buses, the server at Poisar depot, which controls these GPRS-enabled handheld terminals called Electronic Ticket Issuing Machines, were playing truant since morning. These machines have been the staple of BEST conductors for almost five years now and have played a large role in plugging revenue leakage when it came to issuing tickets in buses.
"It did seem odd being given these tickets. It has been ages since we saw these tickets and heard the click-clack of the conductor's ticket puncher. I bought a Rs14 ticket for Kandivli station from Charkop, and I got a bunch of these old tickets," said a commuter of bus route number 276. She got a ticket for Rs8, a ticket for Rs4 and two individual tickets for Re1.
Explaining why commuters were given more than one ticket for one journey, the conductor said that that was because when these old tickets were used, more than five years ago, the prices were fairly low. "Today, almost all journeys cost upwards of Rs10-15. Hence, we needed to give several tickets for one Rs15 journey," he added.
While the nostalgia it invoked was all right, BEST employees agreed that the new handheld terminals ensured that there was proper accounting of the tickets sold in a bus. "In the old days there was no way to know how many people travelled in a bus on a particular route. Since these terminals are connected to centralised servers of the BEST, every ticket is accounted for," said a BEST staffer.
A BEST spokesperson said that at times when the Electronic Ticket Issuing Machine malfunctions, conventional tickets that require punching are used.
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