Imagine if your paycheque came in the form of dollar bills. This is how it'd look like. Image by xinmin.cn.
Fare collection in transit systems have evolved dramatically in the last decades with many large agencies opting for electronic payment systems such as the Oyster Card (London) and Octopus Card (Hong Kong). However, in many places around the world, many people who are unfamiliar with this form of payment still choose to pay using regular spare change.
In the city of Shangqiu, located in China’s Henan province, staff working in the public transit agency have received their wage straight from the farebox (literally) for the past 12 years (link in Chinese)! This might be absurd (and slightly amusing) but there are two perfectly logical reasons for this: 1) While a transportation card exists, the number of users adopting this system is minimal; and 2) Local banks aren’t willing to accept that much loose change.
So the result is workers taking home a stack of bills and coins. Judging from the smile of the employee pictured above, I guess receiving a wage in dollar bills is better than not receiving a wage at all.
I'd hate to be the one responsible for sorting that out by hand. Image by xinmin.cn.
This brings several things to question: what is the farebox recovery of this transit system in Shangqiu? And are employees paid a fixed income or do their salaries fluctuate based on the amount of paying riders?
While this would obviously never happen here in North America, I can’t help but imagine what the results would be if this were to occur in the US and Canada. Better service? Poorer service? You be the judge.
5 Comments
Properly conducted, why not? Saves bank fees, deposit time, and firmly links fares/riders to shared prosperity in the minds of the employees. Look for the symbolism here.
Interesting points. Just to pick your brain: most transit systems in the world don’t make a profit. So how can they pay their employees from the farebox?
If wages were equal to or lower than farebox, they could use the cash to pay wages, and use tax revenue to pay for maintenance, capital investment, and other costs, including pensions and health care.
While it is probably unusual to be paid in small bills in China, when I worked there I was under the impression that it was not unusual to be paid in cash. Or maybe that’s just what my employer said to avoid the hassles of the banking system.
“While this would obviously never happen here in North America” Heh. Like many things in China, just look back a century or so and you’ll find it here. The difference is this happened with Seattle’s streetcars when they were going under: “its financial situation got so bad that the city had to pay employees with nickels and dimes straight from the fare box”
Nice find Matt.
Since you mentioned it, I now suspect this happens in more cities than initially thought.