The Delhi government will soon provide National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) compliant digital ticketing solutions across all its Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) operated buses, said officials. According to officials, the key aim behind the project is to phase out the manual ticketing process and move towards digital and contactless ticketing. Tenders were floated for the project on January 8. Earlier this week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated about 50 e-buses, taking the bus fleet strength to 7,379. Officials said with the increase in the number of buses, ridership also increased to more than 12 crore in December. The digital ticketing solution is also part of the route rationalisation study conducted by the transport department, whose pilot phase has been in progress since October 2022, said officials. The tender includes the supply and operation of electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) for 7,500 buses in phase one. It also includes provision of smart cards or NCMC cards for buying tickets rather than paying in cash. A feature of the mobile app to enable buying of online tickets and concessional daily or monthly passes has also been included to be provided by the bidder. “This is a complete digital solution to remove any chances of pilferages in the process. The ETM machine will also be issuing Pink Tickets, enabling women to travel for free," said the officials. Currently, NCMC cards are in operation in Delhi Metro's Airport Express Line while the rest of the lines are scheduled to be NCMC compliant by June 2023. "Through this card, commuters will be able to buy both bus and Metro tickets. More and more transit options will be added in the coming years to make travel more convenient," said officials. The transport department, in November 2022, launched the 'One Delhi' app through which bus users can buy tickets and passes online. "We wanted to totally move away from the current manual ticketing where the origin and destination are not being captured at all. The Delhi government wants to enable a system for commuters to even know if the next bus coming is at 100% occupancy or partly crowded, along with tracking of buses at the bus stop to know their exact waiting time. The idea is to expand this to all modes of public transport, making Delhi a world-class city," said Transport minister Kailash Gahlot.
