Greedy driver may spell village folks with no bus

Photo: uudised.err.ee

Is this the Soviet past, or the too low wages? Whatever the case, Road Administration is troubled to find that some bus drivers put part of ticket money in personal pant pockets. 

In theory, ticket sale is a piece of cake: a client hands bus driver the money, and the driver hands him a ticket that proves the transaction did happen. Alas, abundant are such drivers who find ways to keep the money.

The scheme most prevalent is that they never hand the passenger a ticket, so the transaction gets not recorded. «Calling a spade a spade: this is stealing. The shortcoming will have to be covered by the state or other taxpayers,» said Road Administration public transport department senior expert Mika Männik.

-The mystical ticket sales increase

To keep the thefts in check, Road Administration installing security cameras in buses to record ticket sales. During six years, cameras have appeared in buses in Järva, Rapla, Lääne, Valga and Harju Counties. Interestingly, after the cameras got installed, ticket sales on these buses skyrocketed.

«In 2009 cameras were installed on buses in Järva County and ticket revenue rose over 20 percent. When Harju County had 58 buses equipped with cameras, over the first month the increase was four percent. This serves to clearly show we have a problem,» said the expert.

From now on, Road Administration will require that line procurements include cameras on all buses. The aim is to have cameras in very single public bus.

-The «Desperados»

Not all drivers like the cameras and are getting smart at getting rid of the «eye». The easiest is to cover it with something.

To cover a camera, a coffee cup will do. Or a tennis ball. Or the eye of the camera may be smeared with vaseline or whatnot. Also, the camera may be broken. Some go for the switchboard and blow the fuse.

Mr Männik said they have had two misdemeanour proceedings this year where bus drivers got punished for doing that. When convicted, the fine may rise to €1,200. Or they may even be arrested.

Why do the bus drivers do that? Perhaps it is the common greed. For others, it is a kind of added income. «In all sincerity, these drivers tell us «I do earn so little so I take that». They see no harm here,» said Mr Männik. At the moment, the minimal bus driver wages stand at €800 before the taxes.

To Estonian Bus Drivers Association head Evald Lass, a bus driver with over 40 years behind the big wheel under his belt, the stealing comes as no surprise. He agrees that it must be the poor pay.

«With also a family, no money will be left over. Then the options come: some go work in Finland, and some stay and cheat,» noted the long-time driver.

-Line almost closed

And yet the scheming may lead to people not getting to their jobs in town in the morning, the way they used to – ticket sales being what is used to gauge if the rural bus lines are worth keeping.

Mr Lass does know a case just like that. «I’s working for this company myself and they were looking that see there’s no passengers. And as they shut the line down, in poured these complaints that we were riding every day,» he said.

The complainers were people daily taking the bus to work, from Põltsamaa to Adavere Windmill. In the countryside, said Mr Lass, it’s that most of the people know the bus driver and will not bother about getting no ticket.

«If all indicators say there are no passengers, why keep the line. For the line to stay, people do need to demand the ticket,» lectures Mr Männik.

Mr Lass hopes that by next year the bus driver wages will be boosted and perhaps the better pay will cut the trickery. «Well yes but there’s them cheaters everywhere,» he sums it all up.