Once upon a time, our buses plying on long distance routes did not have any provision for storing passengers’ baggage. As a result, the passengers’ belongings would be thrown on top of the bus and tied with a rope. Many buses would not even have a plastic sheet to protect the baggage from the rain. Sometimes the bags would fall off the bus and on to the road during the journey; sometimes the baggage or its contents would be stolen en-route. Some of the cases decided by the consumer courts in fact give an insight into the problems faced by consumers. In the case of Prabhat Nalini Devi vs Rashmi Travels, for example, the passenger lost her baggage loaded on to the top of the bus and with it, her expensive sarees and even gold jewellery. In fact on the ground that the suitcase contained jewellery, she was unwilling to allow it to be placed on the roof of the bus, but the conductor insisted on it and sure enough, when she reached her destination, she found the bag missing, forcing her to eventually file a case before the consumer court and get compensation. Today, there is a slight change in the scenario — many buses plying on long distance routes have a spacious luggage compartment at the back of the bus or on the side of the bus. But here too, in the absence of a fool-proof system of management of baggage, consumer complaints of baggage loss are many. In the case of Divisional Controller, KSRTC, Mysore vs Ramesh Reddy, Reddy lost a bag containing purchases worth nearly Rs 4,000, kept in the luggage compartment of the bus. Consumers in such cases can get compensation, but the attempt should be to prevent such losses. In North America, for example, I have seen transport companies generating, along with the passenger ticket, a tag for the baggage, containing details such as the name of the passenger, his or her address, ticket number, date of travel and the final destination. Baggage beyond a certain weight is charged or else, it is free. At the time of passenger embarkation, the bag with the tag is loaded into the luggage compartment and locked. We need to follow a similar system. This prevents passengers from picking up the wrong baggage or even theft because (a) there is proper labelling of the bag and (b) the conductor can hand over the bag at the end of the journey after cross-checking the ticket number. Will our road transport companies kindly pay heed?