Blog: A victim of public transport

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you, to let you know about the problems I encountered today 10/31/2011. It would really help me out if you could publish an article on the issue mentioned below, in your newspaper.

I'm a student at the university of Mauritius,Reduit, residing at Mahebourg. Today 10/31/2011 my course ended earlier at 11.45am. As I was not feeling that well, I went directly to the Reduit bus stop in order to take the Mahebourg bus. At 12h10, a Mahebourg  bus came but alas it was already full and did not take much students. At 12h30 another Mahebourg bus from Port Louis came and this time it took only 5 bus passengers. Feeling really tired of waiting for the bus, I finally decided to take a L'escalier bus that left from Port Louis. Since Rose-Belle village was found on the way to L'escalier, my friend and I decided to take the L'escalier bus, get down at Rose Belle and from there we will easily get a Mahebourg bus and finally go home. A l'escalier bus PERLE DE LA SAVANNE  1020 FB 10 came at Reduit  at 12h45 and it had vacant seats. So we got in and took our seats.(N.B. There were still vacant seats at the time it left the University). After 2mins, the bus conductor started taking the bus fares and verifying the student bus pass. When he reached my friend and I,he had a look at our pass and asked us to pay. According to that bus conductor, we must only take Mahebourg bus and he added; "zot bizin payer si zot envie descend rose belle. Si zot pa payer mo zette zot la mem".

(Isn't that unfair? Those living at Rose Belle, Mare d'albert, New grove, Plaine-Magnien can take either L'escalier or Mahebourg bus, but those living at Mahebourg, should take Mahebourg bus only,or else we will have to pay if we take another bus apart that of Mahebourg ? So, this means that if all Mahebourg bus coming to Reduit are full, and don't take us, we will have to wait for HOURS until we get a Mahebourg bus that will take us. Is that fair? If transport for students was not free, then the fact that we are taking two buses to go home wouldn't have bothered them because we would be paying. It is true that transport  has become free, but it is also an undeniable truth that we get insulted because we don't pay the bus fares.)

Moving to what happened in the bus; my friend and I refused to pay,and told  him we are willing to go to the Police Station at Rose Belle and solve this problem. The reply of the bus conductor was: "ki zot croire, zot ine gagne CARTE MARIAZ kan zot gagne sa pass la. Zot penser zot pu kapav TALLE zot partout? Alala mo pu descend zot rose belle!!! Mo pu ferme la porte la et ammene zot direct l'escalier et faire zot payer."

Well, from there, things have gone even worst. The bus conductor saw a Mahebourg bus at a certain distance at Shoprite and he said,"Guet bus mahebourg devant. Descend ale prend bus la." He then started to speed up in order to reach that bus. At the bus stop of Pont-Fer, Phoenix, he forced us to get down and take that Mahebourg bus which had halted in front to take passengers. As soon as we got down the l'Escalier bus,the mahebourg bus had already started to move off. Unfortunately, we were not able to enter the latter.

In my attempt to get back to the l'Escalier bus,the bus door was closed on my hand and I got hurt. I had to wait for 1 hour in order to get a Mahebourg bus and go home. Moreover very often, students have not yet entered the bus and the latter start to move off. This can result in severe accidents. It is also worth mentioning that very often, the Mahebourg bus take only a few students at Reduit, saying there's no vacant seats in the bus, and when they reach Shoprite, they take passengers who will pay bus fares and cram the bus to capacity exceeding even the allowed number of standings in the bus.

Is this what we call free transport? Getting hurt and insulted by bus conductors? Where has it been written that a student residing at Mahebourg should take Mahebourg bus only? The bus owners never hesitate to take the transport money granted by Government irrespective of the fact that they carry students or not. Even I am not interested in taking two buses to go home, but the situation obliged me to do so.

We, student of the University Of Mauritius, are going to study there but it is really sad to say that we also have to bear the insults and harsh words of some unscrupulous bus conductors and drivers. The insults quoted above was used by the bus conductor to intimidate my friend and I. Today my hand has been hurt but tomorrow another student can be badly injured. Is it then that the concerned authority will take action?

I would really appreciate if actions could be taken against the above mentioned bus and the bus conductor. I really hope that my complaint will not go in vain and that in future, students won't have to suffer from transport problems.

I thank you in advance and rely on your cooperation.

Student

University of Mauritius
Reduit.