( 1 ) THIS Public Interest Litigation is instituted by a public spirited Advocate who is concerned about plight of women and children who are denied their due in regard to travelling in the first respondent's city bus services. ( 2 ) ). The grievance is that the first respondent's employees, such as driver and conductors do not enforce the provision relating to reservation of seats for women in buses; that the buses do not stop at the bus-stops and stop 50 to 100 meters away putting the women and children into a lot of inconvenience of having to rush to the bus parked away from the bus-stop; that the buses are not adhering to the timings fixed for their operation; that the buses are overloaded; that the buses overspeed within the city limits and the Conductors do not give change after issuing tickets. All these infractions, it is contended, has put the women and children to a lot of inconvenience besides rendering the journey hazardous. ( 3 ) THE first respondent in its statement of objections has sought to contend that the population of the city of Bangalore has increased abnormally rendering it difficult for it to cater to the requirements of the commuters; that despite limitations in bus operations, as many as 16 seats are reserved for lady passengers and in fact the number of reserved seats for ladies are increased for their convenicence; that the Conductors have been instructed by way of circulars to ensure that the male commuters do not occupy seats reserved for women passengers; that a booklet of instructions has been issued to Conductors and Drivers regulating their conduct with the commuters; that the Conductors have been instructed to lodge complaints against all erring passengers; that to avoid hardship to women, ladies special buses are run; that in the new buses introduced by the Corporation, the seats reserved for lady passengers are totally bifurcated from the seats of other passengers; that public awareness about reservation of seats for women is sought to be highlighted through electronic media, cartoons and pamplets; that on account of non co-operation of the male passengers, reservation of seats for ladies could not be adhered to without affecting the schedules and that the reservation of seats for ladies could not be enforced to the expected level on account of practical difficulties. ( 4 ) THE first respondent has sought to contend that though all the passengers are expected to get in from the rear door and alight from the front door and exception is made in favour of the ladies to get into the buses from the front door and also to alight from the front door. It is contended that the drivers have been strictly instructed to ensure that the buses are stopped at the identified bus stops. Various circumstances such as dwelling on foot-path, congestion of the roads, digging of roads for laying cables etc. are pleaded as some of the circumstances which have made the stoppage of the buses at the bus-stops difficult. ( 5 ) THE enforcement of que system in the bus stops could only be enforced with the cooperation of the passengers. ( 6 ) OVERCROWDING of buses is sought to be alleviated by introducing private buses to be operated under the banner of the first respondent. Foot-board travelling is also sought to be discouraged by booking cases against foot-board travellers by the police. The Conductors find it difficult to persuade all the passengers to co-operate in avoiding foot-board travel. It is contended that various factors such as shortage of coins, inability of commuters to tender the exact change are pleaded as causes for the difficulty experienced by the commuters and that with a view to avoiding such inconvenienes to the commuters, a system of monthly passes has been introduced enabling the commuters to travel on any route any number of time. It is contended that the first respondent has been operating the services to the best of its ability, by introducing "pushpak" services and "high-tech" services in addition to introduction of monthly passes. First respondent has also sought to plead that there has been a qualitative improvements so far as the number of buses operated as against cancellations between April, 1997 and December, 1997. The percentage of cancellation is alleged to have come down from 13. 8% to 4. 7% while the traversed distance in lakh kilometers has increased from 102. 84 in April, 1997 to 128. 92 in December, 1997. On these pleas, the first respondent has prayed that the petition be dismissed. ( 7 ) APPARENTLY, first respondent has sought to justify its operations as well as its operational efficiency by producing the statistics referred to above. 7% while the traversed distance in lakh kilometers has increased from 102. 84 in April, 1997 to 128. 92 in December, 1997. On these pleas, the first respondent has prayed that the petition be dismissed. ( 7 ) APPARENTLY, first respondent has sought to justify its operations as well as its operational efficiency by producing the statistics referred to above. ( 8 ) THE grievance of the petitioner categorised above cannot be regarded as unfounded. Overcrowded buses, ill-mannered Conductors and Drivers of the first respondent (there may a few exceptions otherwise), unclean buses have become a common sight in the city of Bangalore. The first respondent which enjoins the monopoly of operation of its services cannot forget that the operations are intended to serve the commuters and it is not the master of the commuters. The Conductors and Drivers of the first respondent who are the face of the first respondent, and come in contact with the commuters, ought to realise that they are required to be courteous to their master namely the commuter. When there is deficiency in the quality of service rendered by the Drivers and Conductors of the first respondent, the first respondent cannot close its eyes and take a soft path and let its staff depart from the basic duty of courtesy and good service towards the commuters. Notwithstanding the alleged difficulty in enforcing discipline, the first respondent would have to enforce discipline against the staff vis-a-vis commuters, as otherwise the very object monopolistic operation by the State would be negated. The grievance of the first respondent that the passengers tend to misbehave is an unfounded accusation as the commuters only reciprocate the conduct of the crew of the first respondent. ( 9 ) NO general direction for better management of the services of the first respondent can hardly be enforced, unless the first respondent discipline itself and its crew. However, the first respondent shall have to enforce its own rules, regulations and instructions, so that, the commuting public get proper service while infractions noticed by the staff would have to promptly dealt with. What is significant to note is that the first respondent has not given a statistics of number of instances and the nature of infractions for which it has punished its crew. What is significant to note is that the first respondent has not given a statistics of number of instances and the nature of infractions for which it has punished its crew. Having regard to the apprehensions voiced in the writ petition, the first respondent shall have to address itself and improve the quality of its service. ( 10 ) THE first respondent shall have to clearly demarcate on the roads, the places where the buses would stop. The first respondent shall have to publish at each bus stop, the timings of the buses that are required to stop there. The first respondent shall enforce the queue system at all its bus-stops by clearly demarcating the direction in which the people in the queue have to proceed to reach the buses at the bus-stop besides such necessary steps as are required to make the system effective. The first respondent shall also have to strictly enforce the reservation of seats for women in the buses and if at the time a woman enters the bus and if the seat reserved for the woman is occupied by a male, it shall be the duty of the Conductor to have the seat vacated and make it available to the female passenger and if this is not done by the Conductor, the Conductor shall have to be disciplined not only on this count but also for any other infraction of the duty of a Conductor enumerated in the Motor Vehicle Rules. ( 11 ) WITH these observations, the Writ Petition is disposed of. Six months for compliance with the directions. Order accordingly. --- *** --- .