Bangalore Bus Woes

You should be stressing out if you happened to get on a bus in Bangalore with no change and crisp 100’s or 500 rupee notes. Actually, the story doesn’t change even with change. Accidental homonym this.

 Ticket price is 12 rupees, you give this conductor a 50 rupee note, he quickly does the math , and no, he’s not grovelling for change in his ingenious leather purse (the ones that bus conductors in india carry), he’s looking for a pen. If this is your first time, this scene can be quite confusing, and he writes down the amount you should get back on the reverse side of your ticket. And that’s where you have lost complete control over money that belongs to you, but will not be returned under any circumstances, unless you pester and the conductor gives in to pressure.

I will compare Bangalore to Chennai, because I have travelled extensively in Chennai by bus and this was never an issue. I could give100 and be assured to get back my change, yes sometimes, I’d have to hear a whole lot from a grumpy ticket conductor – but even that is easier to bear in comparison to losing money. Even if it’s just six rupees that the Bangalore conductor owes me, it may be a small sum to me, but to a lot of people six rupees when added to fourteen rupees becomes enough to buy a packet of milk. It was startling that the conductors here are rude and very outspoken, especially when you can’t speak Kannada. Most unhelpful, even when you are asking them about bus numbers and routes.

Imagine, in one bus journey these conniving bus conductors can make close to a hundred rupees by not handing people their hard earned money. It amounts to stealing, and looks like no one’s been able to keep a check on this daylight robbery.