Metro Rail: Manual ticketing in beginning

The DPR,which has provided details of prepaid cards and season tickets that the regular commuters could buy,has described the capacity of manual ticket vending counters as 10 passengers per minute. It has been assumed that 40 per cent of the commuters would purchase tickets at the stations while travelling. The rest are expected to have prepaid cards. Around 30 persons per minute are expected to enter the ticketing gates. At least two ticketing gates would be provided at every station. There would be a total of 30 metro stations.

The passenger amenities would be provided at the concourse that forms an interface between street and platforms. The concourse would contain automatic fare collection system in a manner that concourse is divided into paid and unpaid areas. The unpaid areas would be where passengers gain access to the system,obtain travel information and purchase tickets. On passing through the ticket gates,the passenger enters the paid area which includes access to the platforms. Ticket machines and automatic fare collection (AFC) gates would be positioned to minimise cross flow of passengers and provide adequate circulation space.

At all the stations,two passenger-operated machines or automatic ticket vending machines are proposed. These would be used for dispensing smart tokens for single journey and add value in the smart cards. It would ensure that the passengers do not have to stand in queues at ticket booths. Ticket reader or add value machines would be installed that would be used to know the card balance. It could be used in case payment for card top-up is made through alternative Internet-based channel like net banking and payment gateway.

The DPR has also provided a comparison between manual system of fare collection and automatic system. It is proposed that a system of contactless smart card type for multiple journey and contactless token for one way journey would be introduced. Passenger information kiosks and commercial kiosks would be provided in the unpaid and paid areas respectively of the concourse.

As per the DPR,on the North-South corridor,the maximum ticketing counters — 10 — would be required at the station in Sector 70. The maximum AFCs on this route would be provided at station on Aroma Chowk and also in Sector 70.

On the East-West corridor,the maximum ticketing counters would be provided at Chandigarh Railway Station. As many as 15 counters would be opened here. The maximum AFCs would also be set up here.