[sustran] Answer to Alan P. Howes (Question on Bus Drivers, Cash, Meal Reliefs)

[Paula Negron Poblete]

Hello Alan, concerning your questions about cash and meal reliefs, my 
experience concerns primary Mexico city, so i send you some information 
hopping it will be usefull.

Concerning the cash responsability, in Mexico city, the drivers are in 
charge of the money, you get into the bus and you pay the driver. With the 
money he collects from the service, the driver has to do 3 things: pay for 
the fuel, give the owner of the bus a certain amount, which depends of the 
route, the vehicle and sometimes the day, he keeps the rest for himself. In 
some cases, the driver gives the owner about 1000 pesos per day (approx. 
100 USD), if you consider that the minimum monthly salary is 100 USD, you 
can see it's a lot of money. Concerning the use of machines to check the 
amount, effectively, in New York (Manhattan) all buses are equiped with 
accountant machines that check if the amount is correct, usually, the only 
accept quarters or one dollar coins, so that makes it a little bit easier, 
also, they accept "tokens", who are coins that can be used in buses and the 
subway. Since a few years, you can use a magnetic card that works like a 
debit card. In Oxford (UK) they also have a systems with cards with a 
magnetic band, the card is valid for a period of 1, 2 or 4 weeks, it 
depends for how long do you want to use the card; buses have a machine 
where you can slide the card and if it is still valid, you can aboard. 
Concerning the third option, in Montreal they have the farebox, and the 
drivers has only the responsability to check that the amount is correct.
Now, concerning the question about why does it work that way, i can only 
give you an answer for Mexico city's case. The fact is that is Mexico city 
transport sector has been privatized but only partially, the regulation is 
insufficient and the service is not always the best. To be a driver allows 
many people to have a permanent job, even if it's in the informal sector, 
and if you consider that daily around 15 million trips are made by bus, 
it's considered a good option. Why the autorities don't work hard on 
regulation? that's a good question, but i think they have other priorities.

I hope this information will be usefull, cheers.

_________________
Paula Negron Poblete
Universite de Montreal
Faculte d'Amenagement