My visit to the bank manager and casual discussion enlightened me to some amazing systems run by a group of passengers on suburban trains running in Mumbai. A monthly pass costs around Rs.255 to a daily traveler. What has been informed to me is an amazing trick played by commuters for travelling ticketless. A group of 50 people is formed. Every month this group pays Rs. 100 to the group leader, and all these 50 people travel without ticket or pass. If they are caught, they have to shell out Rs. 250 as a penalty. On producing the paid penalty receipt to the group leader, they are reimbursed the penalty amount from the kitty. At the end of the year, whatever amount is remaining in the kitty is divided and returned back equally amongst all the 50 people.
Considering that 50 people give 100 rupees for 12 months, then the annual collection amounts to Rs. 60000/-. On a rough edge, even if an average 5 people are caught per month(the probability is in the favour of not being caught, with 2 million people using the trains daily), the total outgoing per month is Rs. 1250, ie. Rs. 15000. By the end of the year, the amount in the kitty is 60000 less 15000, ie. Rs. 45000. So each person gets back Rs. 900. If he would have purchased a monthly pass his expense would have been Rs. 3060 in a year, whereas here he has to pay only Rs. 300 in the entire year, i.e less than 10%. Amazing. But works wonderfully. Incredible the way minds of certain people work.
