[para_7k]

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

Had a disappointing experiance today. I was entering OMR from the Pallavaram - Thoraipakkam radial road to go to work. At the toll booth, I gave him a Rs.100 note and was provided the ticket and change in return. As it was rush hour and a huge line was there behind me I just took it and left. However on counting the change provided after reachig the office, I realized that he had provided me with Rs.10 less . Has this happened to anyone else?

It has happened to me once, though the change was right, he gave me a damaged Rs 50 bill

So, check the amount and quality of the bills before exiting.

[KumaravelS]

Originally Posted by para_7k

It has happened to me once, though the change was right, he gave me a damaged Rs 50 bill

So, check the amount and quality of the bills before exiting.

These humane mistake happens at most of the queue. normally we would be rushing to office and our thoughts would be how to fire fight there . During delays in queue's etc We might be already late, so we tend to zip through as soon as some hands over... Not to mention the feeling that many would be waiting behind and they would also rush thru...

These happens to vehicle delivery also. If we give it in weekdays, if would be inconvenient for us to go for delivery and we end up normally at the closing time, so that we don't inspect properly. In weekends there would he heavy rush and we end up in not inspecting...

[Gansan]

Is there no monthly pass for these toll booths?

[aargee]

Originally Posted by para_7k

he gave me a damaged Rs 50 bill

Well there's nothing complaint as such I see; a damaged bill is simply damaged & no one can refuse to accept an Indian currency in this country which is AGAINST LAW, unless they have strong evidences to show the bill is a fake one.[/quote]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is there no monthly pass for these toll booths?

Yes sir, they do have pass; besides they've also provided free pass for the residents within their limits.

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is there no monthly pass for these toll booths?

Yes there is.
But extremely expensive. They give you the pass assuming that you will be going through the toll multiple times on a daily basis.
So normally a single return pass would be 35 bucks. Multiple return daily pass is 60 bucks.
So for 22 days of travel (average number of working days a month) you would need only 750 or 800 bucks a month if you take a return ticket daily for 35 bucks.
But if you take the monthly pass they charge you 1450.

[Reisender]

I always carry 20 bucks change for this.

@Gansan,
There is a monthly pass and it is 1450Rs. Consider most of IT ppl work for 21 or 22 max in a month. This will be 22 * 38 = 836Rs.

Funny that monthly IS costlier than the daily one.

To add to this, there is route to avoid toll if you drive to OMR from Pallavaram. Nobody is keen to pay Rs38 for this 1.5 lane of total frustration.

Thanks,
Reisender

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by Reisender

Funny that monthly IS costlier than the daily one.

To add to this, there is route to avoid toll if you drive to OMR from Pallavaram. Nobody is keen to pay Rs38 for this 1.5 lane of total frustration.

Thanks,
Reisender

As I mentioned, it is more costly because they consider multiple onward and return passes through the toll in a single day and not a single one.

There is also a deviation if coming from the ECR side, just before the toll gate to go towards siruseri, navalur.

[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is there no monthly pass for these toll booths?

As stated by the otehrs, yes there is. The whole irony of this is that I live on the OMR and have a resident's pass. I had just forgotten to take it that day

[Gansan]

Then it may be better to ride a bike to work, at least during fair weather. I had gone to Tidel park a couple of times by bike and was not charged any toll. One may avoid the queue as well!

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Then it may be better to ride a bike to work, at least during fair weather. I had gone to Tidel park a couple of times by bike and was not charged any toll. One may avoid the queue as well!

You dont pay toll. But you are practically putting your life into the hands of the brilliant planning committee who are in charge of keeping the expressway safe.
Just the other day there was an article on 3 girls trying to jump over the divider and being hit by a bike guy. The girls were severly injured as was the poor biker who probably didnt do anything wrong.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by pras.oct25

Just the other day there was an article of 3 girls trying to jump over the divider and being hit by a bike guy.

I am sure that risk exists whether you go by car or bike! Just stick to the middle lane.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by pras.oct25

Just the other day there was an article on 3 girls trying to jump over the divider and being hit by a bike guy. The girls were severly injured as was the poor biker who probably didnt do anything wrong.

What he might have done wrong is to fail to compute that three people hanging around on the edge of the road might be about to cross it, and change speed/path accordingly. It's called defensive driving, and when I see someone on a median, dangling their foot into the road, I brake, whatever the guy behind me thinks of it.

But sure, there are limits, and if someone is going to walk out in front of a vehicle that is just a few metres from them, there is little the driver can do, except find themselves in an immense amount of trouble from that moment

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What he might have done wrong is to fail to compute that three people hanging around on the edge of the road might be about to cross it, and change speed/path accordingly. It's called defensive driving, and when I see someone on a median, dangling their foot into the road, I brake, whatever the guy behind me thinks of it.

But sure, there are limits, and if someone is going to walk out in front of a vehicle that is just a few metres from them, there is little the driver can do, except find themselves in an immense amount of trouble from that moment

Him failing to compute, or the girls failing to use their brains is hardly an excuse for the way things work around here.
Why call it a highway and charge people when the authorities cant do squat about the safety measures. Every other day there are accidents happening and these are reported in all papers. Is this the new population control means of the govt?

[Thad E Ginathom]

If it was my mother country, a road like that would be fenced off, and pedestrians would not be allowed to wander on it --- and of course, if they did that here, people would just climb over. Not to say that they don't sometimes do that in Uk too. Personally, I think the control and engineering of people's lives is far, far too much.

Here, in this kind of accident, we are talking about ignorance. Probably the girls were ignorant of basic road safety, and possibly the driver was too. Is this the government's fault? Looking at one case, no it wasn't: short of building an eight-foot wall, it is unlikely that authority could have stopped those girls going onto the road.

In the larger picture: certainly it is the government's fault: where is the road safety education in school? Where is the driving instruction and where is the real test without which a person can't drive? All those things are missing, yet the authorities continue to build bigger and faster roads.

Even if all those things continue to be missing, most of the accidents that we see reported, and discuss on this site, only needed a little tiny bit of good sense and imagination to avoid.

Someone once said that the problem with common sense is that it it is not actually very common

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Someone once said that the problem with common sense is that it it is not actually very common

True. What is frustrating is not that its 1 or 2 people, but EVERYONE who indulges in this kind of senseless behaviour.
But there is the concept of "knocking" the common sense into people. Thats probably where the govt needs to play a role. Force people to follow rules by imposing stringent guidelines. Let the govt take care of the policemen so that they are not minting money from law breakers instead.
I like the system being imposed in delhi, where auto's are given a smart card which also tracks traffic violations. 10000 auto's were taken off the roads because they didnt comply with the smart card rule - and I dont see anything wrong with such radical regulations.
If people dont have the sense or the education to know what to do and when to do it, then someone has to teach them. Thats why we have a govt with all the babus who have big fat bank accounts filled with our tax money.