Memory gap

During a recent trip to Baguio City, I observed that the conductors of buses seem to have a good memory of who owns which luggage.

During pre-departure, the conductor receives the bags of the passengers and ask them where they are getting off. He then arranges the luggage depending of the passenger's destination. So how can he be sure that the passenger handling or taking off a luggage is the same passenger? In my observation, he commits them to memory.

As he receives a luggage, he looks at the face of the passenger and at the luggage. It is here where I believe he makes a mental note connecting the passenger to the luggage. Theft can happen when during stops, a passenger takes somebody else's luggage from the compartment. The bus companies seem to be able to avoid this by limiting access to the compartments to the conductor. The driver never opens the compartment.

If a passenger wishes to take something from their luggage, it is the conductor who opens the compartment and observes the passenger. I think during this time the conductor tries to retrieve the face-to-luggage connection he made earlier.

So far, I have not witnessed any theft of luggages during a provincial trip with Victory Liner.