No more ‘Va’, ‘Po’ to passengers, conductors told
In yet, another effort to bring back the commuters, who abstained from the government bus services after the fare hike, the Villupuram division of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) had issued oral orders to its conductors and drivers not to address the commuters in ‘singular’.
To impart soft skills in conductors and drivers so as to reduce the commuters’ complaints and improve the travel experience, the TNSTC Villupuram division had constituted a three-member team at the regional level.
The team comprising regional manager and two officials from the operation and technical sections have been conducting training for conductors and drivers. So far, about 20 sessions have been conducted in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Kancheepuram districts from the first week of August.
“Strict instructions have been given to conductors and drivers not to address commuters in the way that shows disrespect to them. Particularly, conductors have been informed not to address the commuters using singular words like Va and Po (come and go),” said a senior official of the TNSTC (Villupuram) division.
The TNSTC Villupuram division has six regions: Villupuram, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai and Cuddalore. The division operates city buses and mofussil services in northern parts of Tamil Nadu. It also operates super deluxe buses to Andhra, Karnataka and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
The officials explained that training was conducted based on the field observation by transport officials and mainly aimed at reducing the commuters complaints and improving the satisfaction. “We noticed that conductors often entered into a verbal duel with commuters over lack of change, stoppage of bus and footboard travel. We have insisted on the depot level officials supporting them,” added the official.
The transport corporation has also instructed conductors not to enter into arguments with school children and persons with disabilities.
“The conductors have been asked not to insist on passes from school children. A guidance is also given not to deny concession for the differently abled passengers,” said the official. With the fleet capacity of 21,500, the Transport department caters for about 2.02 crore commuters across the state before January 2018. After the ticket fare hike on January 19, the patronage of buses dropped by more than 20 lakh commuters.
