WHERE IS MY RECEIPT?

Apr 02, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Believe it or leave it! There are persons in Guyana who when they leave home, travel with exact money to make their purchases and pay for their transportation.
Therefore when a certain minibus decided that the fares for a short drop route would be increased by $20, it threw this particular man’s finance in an imbalance. He was not aware of the increase and therefore when he handed the conductor the old fare, he was told that he needed to pay $20 more.
He protested, saying that the amount he tendered was the usual fare that he paid. The conductor was unsympathetic and not very concerned. He simply told the man that gasoline also gone up and that the fare was increased by $20.
The man protested this time on another ground. He said that the government had not approved any increase. This rattled the conductor who indicated that the bus was registered in his name and not in the name of the government and therefore the government could not determine how much should be charged.
The exchange between the man and the conductor was taking some time since neither was budging. As such one of the other passengers offered to pay the $20, knowing that the man did not have the extra money. The man however was unmoved.
He decided that smart man was going to meet his match. He took the $20 that was offered but told the conductor that he wanted a receipt.
Now this is the first time in history that any passenger on a minibus had demanded a receipt. Before the conductor could protest, the man indicated that he was not paying any fare unless he got a receipt.
The conductor obviously was caught off- guard but being a smart man himself he tore out a piece of paper, wrote a receipt and gave it to the man with outstretch hands waiting to collect his fare.
The man looked at the paper, turned it around and asked, “Where is the revenue stamp?”
A great many of the problems with bus fares in Guyana would be ironed out if there was a system whereby a person had to pay the fare before entering the bus. This would allow persons to know before hand how much they had to pay and if they did not have the required fare, then they could seek other means of traveling.
Right now there is no regard for passengers. You enter a bus and before you can get to your seat, the bus pulls off. You are thrown backward by the momentum. There is no concern for service and that is due to the lack of competition.
If there was competition between transport operators, the service would have been better and fares would have been more economical. But since passengers are prepared to accept whatever is given to them even though they are paying, they are forced to be price-takers.
It is the passengers who have to begin to assert their rights by demanding to know the fare before they enter a bus and by demanding better service.
If you are paying for a seat, then there should be no overloading. And no police rank should have to enforce this rule. Once it happens, passengers should protest.
But too often what we see at bus parks is a mad rush to get on board, so much so that some passengers seem glad just to get inside the bus, never mind the bus is overloaded.
In one instance, at the Stabroek Market Square, there was a mad scramble to board a bus. One man was desperately trying to get on the overcrowded bus. But the more he tried the more he was pushed away by the many persons already inside and other trying to get on. After a while, somebody said, “There’s no room. It’s full up!”
“But you must let me on!” shouted the man.
“Why, what’s so special about you?” the people asked.
“I’m the driver,” replied the man

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WHERE IS MY RECEIPT?

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