There's a Mumbai suburban
railway system that carries more than 6 million commuters a day, meaning the
task for the authorities to check for tickets is extremely difficult. The system to discourage
ticketless travel relies on random ticket checking - but with more than 6
million commuters a day, the chances are that if you travel without a ticket you
will escape getting caught more often than not.
However, with everyone
aware of this low probability of getting caught, this will likely increase the
number of people travelling without a ticket, which then increases the number
of people that will get caught in a random check.
So, the story goes,
someone in Mumbai came up with a clever
money-making insurance idea that seems to benefit all parties involved. It
works like this - if you are a daily traveller, then you sign up to become a
member of this organisation of local train travellers. You pay 500 rupees (which
is about £6) to join this organisation of fellow ticketless travellers. Then,
if you do get caught travelling without a ticket, you pay the fine to the
authorities and then hand over your receipt to the organisation which refunds
you all the money.
It's a neat little idea -
however, I cannot help thinking that somewhere in Mumbai there is a
ticket-collecting company in the making, to whom the train operators could
outsource this work, and both parties could clean up.
