Vodafone Chief Marketing Officer, Rajnesh Prasad, highlights the challenges faced by the company in verifying whether students have been overcharged for fares.

While responding to questions raised by FBC News regarding bus drivers overcharging students, Prasad emphasized that Vodafone, as a telecommunications provider, lacks the physical presence to monitor fare collection directly and that its systems do not provide conclusive evidence of overcharging.

Prasad stresses the importance of education and monitoring in addressing the issue.

“That is more of a monitoring that needs to be done by the authorities like LTA, to ensure that the correct fares are charged to the customer. If the correct fares are not charged, and if it is a claim, then there needs to be some sort of arrangement for them to handle the situation and issue a stern warning to people who actually overcharge the customers.”

Prasad’s call for increased oversight and monitoring aligns with efforts to protect passengers from unfair practices and ensure transparency in public transportation services.

Vodafone’s position emphasizes how effective fare-related issues can only be resolved by cooperation between transit authorities, telecom companies, and other relevant parties.

FBC News has obtained information that some bus drivers usually charge stage two fares to students who travel stage one, but Vodafone is not in a position to verify that and reimburse parents accordingly.