Saturday, September 30, 2006

FM Radio in Public Transport Buses, whats next?

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses usually ply in various stages of decay in Chennai. A month or ago, I traveled in a bus in which, due to the rains, there was a steady stream of water that kept pouring in from the roof on 2-3 seats.

But the one I used last night was amazing. It was quite new. The bus was really well lit up with many tube lights inside. The seats were comfy - as in new cushions so you didn't have to feel the wooden base alone. The ceiling was covered with mica sheet.

And there was FM music being played. I don't know if its now installed in all new buses that the Corporation is inducting into its fleet, but this is the second such bus that I have observed it over the past 3 months.

In a way it does beat the monotony of travel in the bus. But then, the music system (if i can call it that) is directly taken off from some tea stall. And like Superthumby observed earlier, we SIs do tend to prefer noise. This was one quite shrill and possibly the driver was trying to let any spying alien spaceship pick up the high frequency signal.

But pretty soon, I think the passengers are gonna be fighting with the drivers about which channel to hear. And as long as the DMK is in power, the Corporation could possibly supply FM radios that play only Suryan FM.

Maybe, the ruling party will also go one step ahead and install a TV set in the bus. After all, when the Government funds can be abused to supply free color TVs to the public, why not install it in a bus? Add a VCR and keep playing pre-recorded tapes of how good the administration (sic) is.

No comments: