Kicks and Kisses

I travel in 4 to 6 different buses a day. Mostly for work, as fun travel is reserved for the autorickshaw. And it has been 3 months since i have been in delhi. So I have travelled a lot in delhi buses. Most of the travel is made interesting by interesting people and the tape/radio. From haryanvi folk songs to Black Eyed Peas from the radio, there is always something for everyone.

And the bus tickets. It’s the tickets which made me think of how the whole system is designed. And most of the times I travel by private buses not by DTC(govt buses), simply because they are what I mostly get.Though I have travelled in many different buses, along different routes, I keep getting the same tickets again and again. And only a very few have the bus registration number printed on it. The first thing which seemed most probable was each ticket meant a bus operator. But then I found three different types of tickets on the same conductor. Also seen on bus insides is a painted sign, “Ticketless travel is like, begging”, or “Ticketless travel would be punished by a fine of Rs. 100″. So the first question which came to mind was, how do the conductors prevent people from traveling on old tickets. When I examined the tickets, I noticed the 4 digit number on each ticket. That figured, as the conductors can keep track of what numbers (and what design) they have sold in a day. And if someone claims to have taken the ticket, showing them an old one, they can check the ticket number and check.

The number on the ticket does solve one problem, of preventing people from getting a free ride. But there are still some problems left.

When the conductors run out of a particular denomination of ticket, say of Rs.2, they tear the Rs. 5 ticket through its middle, making a hole in it. A Rs. 5 ticket with a hole in it is Rs. 2. So this implies that they don’t have to give an account of where each ticket went to the owner. So how does the bus owner, who most probably has 10s of buses, keep check on his conductors and prevent them from cheating him.

From what I have seen and I have seen a lot of tickets, all of them have only a 4 digit number. That means for each design of ticket there are 9999 unique ones out there. But the designs are so few and the people who travel on buses so large, that I am sure that there are multiple lots of a single design with 0 - 9999 printed on them. So if the conductor wants he can easily get the same design and series of tickets from the market. Here I am assuming that they don’t print 5 or more digit numbers. One because to print each number means additional complexity, with less marginal returns. And two because I don’t think the bus owners do a lot of accounting, i.e. No. of tickets == X Rs.

From what I know of delhi buses, I guess their owners use mafia techniques to keep them in check. First time caught stealing, a thumb, second time a foot, third time into the Yamuna…

Also a problem which I personally face is of fending conductors who have weak memory, who ask me to take ticket a moment after I have bought one. One of my friends suggests asking him,”hey first give me my change, I just gave you a Rs .100 note.” HA haa..that would test their memory for sure.

What I have done in this post is inspired by Newton’s thought experiments. The simplest way of finding how all this works is, just asking some conductors and bus drivers. But that would take away all the charm of reasoning out of it. I want this to remain a semi-mystery like the ‘BeanBag‘ signs painted across mumbai. People do have some wild theories about it.

If you have any different idea or find any flaws do point them out.
Also points to ponder while you get bored in your (office)/(college)/(wherever else you get bored), over these:Are Akaash and Pakash(a word with no meaning for all I know) printed by the same printer? If so why? Did he get bored with one design? Did he loose a font. Or by workers of one printer who stole the printing molds and slightly changed it to prevent copyright violation?