Ticketless Travel Insurance

Here is an interesting post I came across today via the Freakonomics blog.I’m struck by the deshi jugaad-an ingenious solution to save a few rupees and avoid wasting time and energy waiting in the serpentine queues at the ticket window in case you’re not a regular monthly pass holder

.\In a crowded (understatement) local train in Mumbai, where there’s hardly any breathing space, what are the chances that a TC (ticket checker) walking into the train and checking for tickets?

 Mumbai suburban railway system daily carries more than 6 million commuters on 3 corridors – central, western & harbour. 6 million commuters on these trains means that the task for the authorities is extremely difficult. Ensuring that all these commuters pay for the tickets is next to impossible for the railway authorities. The system to discourage ticketless travel has to rely on random ticket checking and the chances are that you will escape getting caught more often than not, while travelling without a ticket. However, if more and more people think that ticketless travel is harmless, the chances of them getting caught in the random check will obviously increase. This keeps the number of ticketless travellers in check. Read more of this post