A Bus Conductor
Essay No. 01
A bus conductor is a humble but very important member of the society. He is one of the most important organs of public transport system. He has a very difficult duty to perform.
A bus conductor leaves his house early in the morning and reaches the depot before six. He is not provided with any conveyance to reach the place of his duty. He is fortunate if he finds a bus passing his away. He can have a free ride in the bus to reach the depot.
As soon as he reaches the depot, he marks his attendance and takes charge of the bus. He is issued the tickets of different denominations. He keeps an account of the tickets sold on each trip. Before the start of a trip, he notes down the opening numbers of the tickets on a form. At the end of the trip, he has to note down the closing numbers of the tickets of different denominations.
During his duty hours, he has to deal with passengers from every walk of life. In the morning and at noon his job is comparatively easy. But at other hours of the day, he has a very tough time. He moves from one end of the bus to the other, issuing tickets to the passengers. He has a small bag to keep the money. One wonders how he can keep his balance in the moving bus.
Wry often he has to deal with unruly passengers. At peak hours there is a great rush of passengers at every stop. He regards himself fortunate if the waiting passengers have formed a queue. If there is no queue, the conductor has to prevent overcrowding of the bus. Often he is very strict with them and does not let the bus move unless they get down.
The bus conductor has to be very vigilant and tactful. Some passengers try to cheat him. They try to travel without paying the fare. Sometimes he has college students on board. They tease him for the sake of fun. In all such cases he has to be very tactful.
The conductor has a few minutes rest at the end of each trip. During this short period he gets time to have a cup of tea or smoke a cigarette. At the end of his duty, he hands over the cash to the cashier at the depot. Sometimes, he puts in extra hours of duty to add to his income.
Essay No. 02
A Bus Conductor
A bus conductor is a very common figure. He can be seen in a bus or a bus-stand. He assists a bus-driver in running a bus carrying passengers. He issues tickets to passengers and sees that none is travelling without ticket. The bus driver does not move the bus until the conductor gives a long whistle.
Normally the conductor is seen in a khaki uniform. He hangs his ticket cum money bag on his shoulder. He has a punching machine. He goes from passenger to passenger asking him where he wants to go. He allots separate seats to lady passengers. Sometimes when he has no change, he asks the passengers not to forget it. He clears the balance before a passenger gets down at his destination.
The conductor keeps standing in the bus for most of the time. He has to see that the bus stops at all proper stoppages. When some stoppage comes, he announces that the passengers belonging to that place should go near the window. After the passengers have got down, he allows the other new passengers to get in. Sometimes he allows more passengers to get in and the bus is over-crowded.
The conductor has to deal with passengers who come from different walks of life. He normally tries to be cool and polite. But sometimes he loses his temper. He quarrels with the passengers and uses abusive language for them. This happens only when he feels that he is about to be cheated. He regards all the passengers alike. In order to make his task easy and cheerful the conductor must be polite and soft-spoken.
