Transportation Issues
In reference to an April fool’s prank pulled a couple of years ago regarding the provision of air-conditioned buses to and from campus and Kolkata, it seems like it may be time to perhaps implement that idea. Especially after taking into consideration the number of shares the post received from a few other institute pages. Here’s a link to a form we are releasing to gauge your responses regarding this provision and how it can be implemented:
Now that we have got the pleasantries out of the way, let’s move on to more pressing issues.
Of late, transportation in Kharagpur has been littered with a plethora of issues. Whether it is a short trip from campus to a restaurant in the town or a journey to Kolkata, people have had a litany of complaints about cab services in Kharagpur. The issues range anywhere from faulty cabs to the exorbitant prices charged by the services. So The Scholars’ Avenue conducted a survey regarding the issues faced by students with regard to transportation in Kharagpur and here is what we learned from the responses (over a 10) garnered.
When enquired about the major offenders in terms of faulty cab services, the biggest culprit was discovered to be Carbuk with three-fourths of the respondents calling them out. The remaining responses were evenly split between various cab services, one of them being Titli Cab service. One particular respondent complained about all the cab services having let them down at some stage during their campus life. Quite the predicament there.
As far as tardiness of the cabs is concerned, 75% of the respondents answered in the affirmative. 62.5% of these responses also specified the cabs being late by more than 30 mins, indicating a serious problem with the punctuality of cabs in Kharagpur. Moving on to the state of the maintenance of the cabs, the situation is just as bleak as the other facets and this is backed up by the numbers. Two-thirds of the respondents claimed that their vehicle broke down on the way to their destination.
Transactions with cab drivers have been another major impediment to the smooth functioning of cab services in Kharagpur. 50% of respondents said that their cab didn’t show up despite advance payment. And when asked whether the cab demanded extra charges for fuel, parking, etc. half of the respondents answered in the affirmative.
If answered with an affirmation for the previous two questions, we asked whether the student received an explanation for the delay. The majority of them replied that they didn’t. And if they did, they were just unsatisfactory excuses thrown around for the sake of it.
Further explaining the adverse consequences faced due to the cab services, students have mentioned cabs not being on time as their biggest concern. Elaborating on their experiences, one student had a cab arrive 45 minutes late in addition to not receiving the cab details on time. Another faced an issue in the model of car being sent: when asked for a 13 seater, a 7 seater was sent in place instead. A tempo traveller was then asked as a replacement wherein the brakes failed to work. For the return, the driver wasn’t present at the location and provided excuses for his absence, showing up almost two hours later. Other common complaints include rash driving, double picking on reserved time, extra charges in the name of taxes and air conditioners.
Upon asking for any other problems faced, the majority responded that the prices have increased tremendously over the past couple of years and getting to and from Kolkata has been an expensive task. General issues like no proper booking structure, no accountability, and no connection with the Institute bodies also came to light.
When asked for suggestions, ideas or any alternate methods of travel, some responded that the Institute should provide air-conditioned shuttle buses to and from campus to Kolkata for which the bookings should be made available through ERP. Along the lines of the previous suggestion, one added that such a facility could be made available during the end and beginning of the semesters, keeping in mind the large volume of students travelling to and fro between Kharagpur and Kolkata. Another respondent suggested a pre-paid cab operator (recognised and approved by the Institute) with a fixed booking and accountability structure. Again an online portal was suggested for this facility as well. Seeing as cabs are inherently untimely, one student asked for bikes to be allowed on campus, at least for PhD students, or Ola auto and bike services to be allowed inside the campus.
