Why Indian Cities still largely rely on bus conductors?
Why do Indian cities still majorly rely on a bus conductor to manually give tickets to passengers? Most of the rest of the world's intra-city buses have largely automated this system to either self validation machines within the bus or at the bus stations (with few exceptional routes). And they use surprise check-ups with a high fine rate to prevent people from hitching a free ride. Having one less person operate the bus can drastically reduce the bus fare or increase revenue that can be used elsewhere (like upgrading the bus stations, or regular bus cleaning or increase the number of buses to reduce load).
Forgive my awful Al thumbnail
Edit1: "Large Population Argument": large population requires a large number of buses. Tokyo has a much higher population compared to most indian cities but they still pull it off.
"Unemployment Argument": With increased saving that can facilitate the increase in the number of buses, The demand for drivers will increase and employment will stay the same.
"Low trust society argument": Low trust society is a symptom caused by bad service. As mentioned, having a surprise checkup with a high fine rate and probable felony charges can be implemented until the trust level increases.