MTC depots go ‘cashless’, busmen face public wrath

According to the procedure followed by the corporation, the conductors are given a fixed amount – Rs 100 – in petty cash every morning to tender change to passengers. Under this accounting system – called imprest – this amount is factored in the daily collection at the end of the day. 

These days, however, there is a shortage of petty cash, which is affecting their work in the morning, complained conductors, alleging that the cash the official at each depot gives in the morning has been halved in the recent past. 

“The officials should hand over Rs 100 in change before we take the buses out of the depot. But, they give us only Rs 50; and some days nothing at all,” said an employee from Iyyappanthangal depot. 

“We have to arrange for the coins and change by ourselves,” he added. When they fail to carry adequate cash in small change, it is they who have to bear the brunt of the passengers’ ire, said the crew. 

“Imagine five passengers board the bus in the morning and each hands over Rs 100 note to the conductor. How will the conductor give the balance cash,” asked K Natarajan, the treasurer of Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), stressing the need for a proper system. According to him, the imprest should be increased to at least Rs 500. 

“The conductors find it difficult to return change early in the morning, and the lack of imprest system leads to problems,” he said. When contacted, a senior MTC official said the corporation has not received any complaints in this regard. 

“We have not received any complaints, but we will instruct branch managers concerned to look into the matter,” added the official.