The recent upgradation at the reservation centre of the City Railway Station has left all concerned thoroughly incensed. The change effected: the clubbing of the `Ladies’ counter along with the counter reserved for credit card holders.
A printout pasted on counter no. 9 stating `Ladies and Credit cards’ draws the attention of the public to this aspect. The joint queue has been introduced since November 20 last year by the South Western Railways so as to maximise the usage of the credit card counter. The unfortunate result: both women as well as those booking tickets with cards are forced to wait longer defeating the very purpose of earmarking exclusive counters.
Ananth, a planter from Coorg, was shooed away by women when he stood in the queue to book his ticket using a credit card. “Go to the general line. This queue is for ladies,” was the sharp remark from one of the women, who did not know the new rule. Following this embarrassment, he made his wife stand in the line. “There must be a separate queue for those with credit cards as we waste much time waiting in this long queue for women,” he lamented recalling how quickly his tickets used to get issued earlier. ‘’The wordings on the printout are not clear. So, I could not argue,’’ Ananth added.
Elaborating on the mix-up in wordings, Chennappa, a consultant geologist from Tumkur, cooling his heels in the queue said, “The words indicate as if only women who have credit cards can book at this counter!”
The women, Metrolife interacted with, were clearly put off and eager to voice their grievances. Graphic designer Bhavya, waiting for her turn at counter no. 9, was ‘feeling uneasy’ about having men in her proximity. “How can they do this to us? It will definitely be a big help if ladies are allotted a separate queue,” she opined.
Anjelyna, a student nurse at St Martha’s College of Nursing, was waiting to book her tickets to Davangere. “So many people are using credit cards to book tickets and it involves procedures that are time-consuming. We are forced to wait till it is all over,” she lamented. Classmate Leena said, “We have to be inside our hostel by 6 p.m.
We dashed here after the college concluded at 4 p.m. and have already waited for 40 minutes. Our booking used to be get over quickly earlier.” Lending credence to this view was this comment by Divya, a first-year BCA student who travels often: “I had to wait for 25 to 30 minutes a couple of months ago for a ticket, now the waiting time varies between 45 minutes and one hour.”
A clerk conceded that the time taken for issuing a ticket was less than a minute when cash was given and it took an extra minute if a card was given. However, this reporter noted a couple of men and women with credit cards making all sorts of enquiries with their cards and taking more than five minutes each to procure their tickets.
Another misunderstanding due to merger of these two queues is that, noticing men (with credit cards) standing in a queue with women, some men assume it to be a general queue and join in. To their huge disappointment, they learn from the counter clerk that the men with cash would not be issued tickets here. The counter clerk too has a tough time resisting their pleas and in the bargain everyone’s time is wasted.
Women seem to have a better deal at the Cantonment Station. The ladies’ queue and senior citizens’ queue are one here while the credit card holders have to stand in the general queue.
The reasoning behind the merger of the counters at City Station is that railway booking centres at Jayanagar, Koramangala, Indiranagar, Yeshwantpur, Banashankari and Cantonment are now accepting credit cards and, therefore, the number of those coming with credit cards to the City Station has now dwindled. Good argument but should women bear the brunt of this?
