Sothappal Express Transport Corporation (SETC)

My longest blog so far, but the lightest one too...

8:35 PM Sunday. In "Shakes & Creams" at Adyar. After having the mini-get-together of my school-mates, I'm supposed to catch the 9:15 PM bus from Koyambedu to Madurai. Was pretty frustrated, when the Auto-wala asked 120 bucks to go to bus-station. Decided to go to Kathipara/Guindy by an Auto and from there by an inter-city bus, which I thought would be faster and cheaper. It was 9.05 PM, when I got down in Kathipara. I thought myself "I am going to miss the bus for sure.. That too on a Sunday night... All the trains have a waiting list of more 150 and hence the trains would be damn crowded.. Cant change my mind to go in train... Should be able to get another bus in the station.. But who knows.. They mite also be crowded.. Can't stand and travel for more than 10 hours.. " Though I wasn't worried too much about missing the bus (since I was going to travel alone, not much luggage and the only work I had to do on Monday and the rest of the week was to eat and sleep), I felt that I would be lucky if the bus was late. At Kathipara, I got into a PP (supposed to be a Point-To-Point bus from Villupuram to Koyambedu) to go to the bus station. Out of curiosity, I took from my purse the SETC online reservation coupon to the Madurai.. Surprised, when I looked at the departure time! It was 9.45 PM!! Thank God!!! I got 30 more mins! Quite contented then and out of too much travel that day, I was about to fall asleep.. But I told myself "just half an hour - After which I can just sleep peacefully in the bus.. and tomorrow & the entire next week - can relax.. that too with awesome mom-prepared-food.." Kaasi & Udayam theatres passed by.. Sweet college memories.. Reached the station by around 9:15 PM.. 30 more mins to kill.. Was just roaming.. Ok, let us come to the topic-in-hand.. yes, SETC [State Express Transport Corportation, as the officials call it..]

A ~45 year old gentleman was standing outside a bus. He looked like a government employee. Seemed as if he wants everyone to follow rules. He was shouting at the conductor, who was inside the bus busy giving tickets to the passengers. Suddenly a hardy, black & bald person came out of the bus. He just got hold of our gentleman's shirt.. fatak fatak.. Slaps and blows on his face and chest.. Our gentleman was beaten up by none other than the bus-conductor, whom our man was cursing earlier. Our man seemed dreadful when he was shouting. The moment he got a blow, he started behaving very timid and weak like a child, who gets beaten up by its teacher for its mistakes. Our man's argument was that he never touched the conductor, but why the heck was he getting beaten up the conductor. The conductor was not at all listening - Just kicks, blows and bumps were the only things he knew at that moment. Knowing that he can't stand against the conductor physically, our man started running. Conductor started chasing. [The crowd was just watching all these proceedings merrily without bothering about the reason (Including me!) except that few more conductors joined the company of our conductor] Both of them reached the SETC office - I hope it was the division manager who was coming out (like the Naattaamai). He was supposed to hear this case today. Both of them started putting forth their viewpoints. All the conductors were supporting his colleague irrespective of knowing what happened. The manager acted as if he was hearing everything. He had the clear intention of saving his employee and hence asked the crowd to disperse; just advised our gentleman not to fight in the public like this. "What the hell!" - I guessed this is how the gentleman would have thought. Wow.. Wonderful!! This is the way, our state owned Express Trans. Corp. handles their much valued customers. I really didn't know the mistake done by our Mr. Poor Customer. But whatever he has done, I thought he didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Really poor fella!

Oops.. I was getting late for the bus.. Already 9:30 PM.. It has been a really looooong time since I traveled in SETC. Was a little hesitant to travel in SETC seeing the above treatment for customers.. But was too lazy to go to some other station to catch a private bus there and also, what if I don’t get tickets there.. Known ghost is better than the unknown god, as people say. [Though now I feel I should have tried to know the God then ;)] 9.45 PM Sharp. Bus did NOT come, as usual. I started my marathon waiting in the station. But after 15 mins started feeling uneasy, because of the weather and the crowd.. No announcements regarding the bus. I went to their office and enquired - He said "Ada yarappa ivan (who is this fellow?!) The 8:30 PM madurai bus has just come and we are expecting of couple of more buses before the 9.45 one." Again, some frustration and started chiding the SETC. Went to a cool-drink shop.. Was drinking of something refreshingly cool.. Just the all-new Limca advertisement came to my mind.. I simply loved the ad - water showering on the face of the people who drink it and an amazing BGM and song.. Though I didn't expect showers, I simply wanted to have it. Had it. Wow, pretty cool and refreshing. After finishing it, went and sat in a waiting chair next to a couple carrying a 1-year-old child. The person asked whether I was going to Madurai [He guessed right because the platform was intended for Madurai buses]. I said yes and that I was waiting for 9.45 one. He laughed at me and said that he was traveling in the bus which started some 15 mins back, but broke down before going out of the station and that he was told by officers that he would be allotted seats in any other Madurai bus. I thought his situation was more difficult than mine. After sometime, a dabba [i.e. very worn-out] bus with "Madurai" board came to the platform. A big crowd just surrounded the bus-door and was expecting the conductor to come out. These poor people haven't reserved tickets, but were curious to know whether there are seats still left. I initially thought it was my bus since it was 10.30 already, but when I was told that it was the 9.30 bus, I had a mix of feelings - sad that my bus hadn't come yet; happy that I didn't have to travel in the stupid dabba bus. Remember, there were neither announcements nor any sign-boards about any buses. People just leap around as soon as a bus comes, without knowing any detail. I was dog-tired waiting for my bus in the jam-packed station in the sultry summer. Thought of having one more limca, but got cold water bottle instead. [To be honest, just liked the Advt, not the taste of Limca] 11.05 PM. To my dashing hopes, a haggard 4-wheeler came to the platform with huge noise. "Amazing, my dear boy! Finally your bus is here.. You are going to ride in an exhilarating bullock cart today.. Enjoy!!" tickled my mind. "Oh, bad.. it's not fair to get such a stupid bus after waiting for 1+ hours" I thought myself, but consoled myself later that it's just going to be for 10 hours.

Got into the bus. The seats were awesomely pathetic. The interiors were amazingly screwed up. The windows were either strong and stuck in one place like politians' urge to come to power or very loose like their policy towards forming a coalition party. "Forget the bus. Just sleep. Just 10 hours!" I thought myself. Bus started and I felt I was put into a machine in a rice-mill. I realized that sound is omnipresent in SETC buses - It comes not just from engine, but from seats, windows, snoring people etc. The bus was agitating heavily - I thought it was going high-speed like a super-sonic plane, but soon realized that it was not the case, when a very old lorry carrying lots of stuff just overtook our bus. Thanks Einstein! I tried hard to sleep. Within hours after the bus started, the driver stopped the bus in a road-side-restaurant [I hope he gets free food in all these kind of restaurants] One person came inside the bus and announced in loud voice that the bus won't stop anywhere else till it reaches Madurai and hence advised people to have food there and use the free-toilet facility in the restaurant. People just came out of their dreams, when they heard about "free-toilet" facility. Most of the people who were getting down for toilet, just ended up in having some food. Good marketing - Give something free to people, they would be ready to accept/buy anything and everything including Chief Ministers. ;) Because the driver gets free food, the driver stopped in more restaurants like the previous [Some of them didn't offer free toilets and people used natural toilets!] Around 6 AM. I had some good sleep for 3 hours because of 3-consecutive-day-travel. I thought we would have gone past Trichy and would reach Madurai soon. I asked my neighbour whether we reached Trichy. That man got terribly angry and replied "This bus is not going to reach Madurai. Stupid Bus! More stupid Driver!! Dont make me angry and dont expect to go to Madurai before lunch. Still need to travel 2 hours to reach Trichy". On hearing that, I too became angry. But soon calmed down, realizing that I can't do anything about it. Slept and read a magazine alternatively. The bus stopped in few more restaurants - It didn't matter much to me.

Finally reached Madurai @ 1 PM (yes, the next day) and my home @ around 2.30 PM. My mom and dad were waiting for me with lunch. The marathon 15+ hour journey (which is supposed to be completed in 10 hours] just made me hate few things, which I used to like earlier - Long-Bus-Journeys and Government Buses. In childhood, I was a car and bus maniac. I used to analyze different kinds of buses and cars. E.g. In 1980s, I had the idea of having sleepers in buses(similar to trains), which is getting executed in private buses these days. I liked Government buses more than the private ones (though the latter are better in many sense). This is because I feel Govt buses are peoples' buses and any loss/gain is just people's. I dont like the fact that private buses are getting crowded, while state owned buses are mostly empty.

Ok, enough of complaints and self-talks... Let me be a little more constructive now.. Yes the state-owned-transport (esp. in Tamil Nadu) has its own problems compared to private buses - (a) Not caring about customers/people (b) Hapless organization/management (c) Not adaptive to changes (d) Second-rate buses (e) Poor efficiency. It's an endless negative cycle of loss-making and poor service. Let me try to put forward some simple suggestions that could help overcoming them

1. Privatisation: Proven formula in many sectors. Instead of privatizing entirely, do it in phases. Routes which are currently operating at loss by Govt should be considered for privatization. For a particular route, instead of allowing any private operator, give exclusive rights to a couple of operators (operators chosen by bidding process), so that it has twin benefits - Avoiding monopoly, at the same time making the private operators feel that it's an lucrative business. Strict guidelines (reg. timing, services, price etc) should formulated for them to operate.
2. Learn from others: Karnataka state-owned KSRTC is performing pretty well. Varied services for different type of customers - Express to A/C volvo coaches - In fact, in many cases, in Karanataka people prefer KSRTC over private buses. Well organized online reservation facility.
3. Quality buses: The current worn-out buses should be phased out over a couple of years - The old buses which were running long distances can be (a) converted so that they are used for local intra city bus service (b) Sold out to other sources like private or other states. The new buses should be of high quality, built by experienced builders. The maintenance can also be outsourced to contractors. Yes, it could lead to short-term losses, but should help in long-term.
4. Consolidation of Bus services: Currently, the entire state-owned bus service is divided into multiple units. Though it helps in easier management, it makes the operating cost higher [E.g. The Cuddalore/Villuppuram unit builds quality buses in-house in a very cost effective manner, but no other unit takes advantage of this] Doesn't mean we have to combine everything to single unit -Just consolidate big items like bus-body-building, servicing etc.
5. Customer attraction & satisfaction: Just need to realize what Gandhiji says "Customers are not dependent on you, you are dependent on them". Introduce new schemes like 'Frequent travelers Advantage' program, Interactive Feedback system etc. Make people & the employees understand that it's *their* transport corporation.
6. Effective management & hence reduce inefficiencies: A lot can be written under this.

Most importantly, implementing all these needs a strong, intelligent and honest leadership. Once done, these great qualities could go positively downwards to all section of the transport corporation in transforming Sothappal to SUPERB Express Transport Corporation.