Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Ticketless Travelling

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With a daily ridership of around seven and a half million people and an annual ridership of more than six billion people relying on the severely overcrowded and busiest commuter rail system in the world, travelling without a ticket is not just a civil offense, but is equally immoral.

Many a times it happens, that a commuter instead of opting to stand in never ending queues chooses to board the train without carrying a ticket bearing in mind that no ticket checker will get hold of him/her, and generally even succeeds in doing the same. Then it starts becoming a habit, whilst simultaneously complaining about improving the services may it be on board or the cleanliness of platforms or punctuality of trains.

Then there are some who commute carrying season tickets, colloquially even known as monthly or quarterly passes, keep on postponing the renewal of passes after the date is due. Reluctance on the part of commuters is one of the reasons for many problems that the lifeline of the city has to suffer through, like mega blockages et al. Only if each commuter would pay for their trip each time, then at the end they will only be the ones who will benefit from the same funds used to improvise railway services.

These are the same people who would spend ten times more the amount of a ticket for recharging their data packages but would not find travelling without a ticket a civil crime. What is the fault of the ones who travel by paying fares? What will happen if everyone starts following the same mentality?

The railway experts have estimated the overall loss that the suburban railways of Mumbai incur, will be around Rs. 1500 crore this year. A couple of days back, while travelling in the ladies coach, I observed that at some station the Ticket Collector (TC) tried to stop a guy un-boarding from the adjacent coach. However, it so happened that the boy simply waved his hand towards the TC saying its ok if I am not carrying the ticket, and the latter even allowed him go casually. Both were equally wrong at their place.

If the whole system goes on functioning like this, there will come a time when the fares will be hiked to cover-up the overheads and loses; the ones who are religious enough to buy tickets even today will be the ones who will bear the burden in the future without any fault of theirs. Not to folly around with such small responsibilities is even paying homage to your city, your nation. Be responsible, be patriotic.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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