Along with BEST bus pass, carry original receipt now

MUMBAI: BEST bus commuters, especially office-goers with monthly/quarterly bus pass smart cards, will now have to also show the original receipts of the cards to conductors. This has not gone down well with passengers.

Conductors are unable to validate RFID smart cards as more than 90% e-ticketing and validating devices are defective. “As we do not have the validating devices, how can we check passes, which are now a piece of plastic with only the passenger’s name and photograph?” said a conductor. “We are requesting passengers to produce the receipts, which mention the period, type and validity of the passes.”

But this has led to arguments between commuters and conductors in the past week. “We got a receipt at the time of making the pass, but we have not kept it,” said a regular office-goer from Nariman Point.

BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya said, “In an era where we are urging commuters to go in for smart cards, why are we asking them to revert to paper receipts and paper tickets?” He held BEST general manager Surendrakumar Bagde and the ruling Shiv Sena responsible for the “mess”.

Bagde said the management had recently proposed before the BEST committee that a fresh vendor be appointed to maintain and repair e-ticketing devices, and issue smart cards. “The panel rejected our proposal, so we are approaching the state government,” he added.