NST faces public outrage over lack of small change

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Jan. 22: Nagaland State Transport (NST), the public transport service in Nagaland, was established in 1965 to provide reliable and affordable services to the citizens. It acts like a utility service department rather than just another commercial undertaking.

Despite more than five decades of service in the state, some sections of the public in Nagaland recently raised an issue about the NST charging extra fare. Eastern Mirror went to the bus terminal at Railway gate in Dimapur on Tuesday to investigate the matter.

It was found that the bus terminal do sells ticket at a rate higher than what is printed. Two tickets were bought on the day—one for Kohima which cost INR 110 though it was printed INR 104 while for Mokokchung was INR 280 though the printed rate was INR 272.

On being queried to one of the officials of NST (wishes to remain anonymous), he said that it was due to inability of the bus station to provide small change. “The passengers do not have change of INR 5 when asked. Most of them are not concerned about coins and ignore it most of the time. So we end up selling the tickets at a round figure,” he said.

“Same case lies with Kohima too. There might be people in our department who take advantage of it. But if there are such complaints, it should be brought to our notice through ‘written complaint’ then we will take the action from our side. Such complaint through the social media is ‘unofficial,’” according to the officer

He said that even the city buses are having a tough time returning passengers their due in small change. He was of the view that it would be easier if the passengers could ‘bring small change and take the tickets.’

“From our side, it is very difficult to get the small change for tickets. Previously, we received INR 20, 000 coins from the bank, specifically for the Dimapur city bus. None of the passengers give change, so the (small) change runs out within a month as we are the only one providing the change,” he explained. “But this is not an excuse.”

“The issue arose because the printed form shows only the actual cost of travel and not the money incurred for booking the ticket in advance,” he said.

According to the officer, there are certain times when the counter charges an extra INR 5 for cases of booking tickets in advance. He explained about Longleng’s bus fare of INR 380 per seat.

The distance from Dimapur to Longleng is 266 km. According to the officer, the price for the ticket is calculated at the rate of INR 1.40 per km, which equals INR 372.4. The additional INR 5 for booking tickets will sum up to INR 377.4. “We do not have change for INR 3 (or 2.6), so sometimes we just make it a round figure of INR 380.”

He hoped the passengers would assist the department by providing small change at the ticket counters.

Also, he shared the need for additional city buses in Dimapur. “If new buses can be inducted into our possession, definitely, we can give better service to the public. Even the public are demanding city buses, especially for the school and college students. The rush hour at Chumukedima area starts from 6 am to 10 am while the ‘peak period’ starts from 11 am to 4pm. But we cannot provide our service in accordance to the demand of the public even though we are operating at 100% capacity.

“Except for pink buses, the other buses that were allotted by the department are old used-up buses from the Kohima Municipal Council. Even if we repair them, they do not turn out successful,” he lamented.

“If new buses are inducted it will be very helpful to the citizens of Dimapur. This is the only service that we, NST, can give to the people at a very affordable rate of less than INR 30 to Chumukedima. One can also be assured of safety from road accidents,” he said.

The officer lamented that the pace at which the buses ply has decreased due to the increasing traffic congestion caused by the ongoing four-lane road construction along NH 29. “Previously, we could give ten trips from Chumukedima to Dimapur but due to such heavy traffic, we can hardly make six trips,” he added.