Common smart-card soon for public transport

“We were waiting for the union government’s plan of a common mobility card to take off,but that is taking longer than expected so we decided to roll out a common smart card for our monorail and Metro lines at least. We have also invited BEST and the railways to join us. BEST has in-principle agreed,but we will need to work out the details,” said UPS Madan,metropolitan commissioner at MMRDA.

A senior MMRDA official said it was easily possible to link the fare collection systems as they are based on the same technology and are being installed by the same vendor.

“We have instructed the vendor to start the process of linking the automatic fare collection system of the two modes of transport. We are aiming to have the integrated ticketing system running before the Metro and monorail corridors are commissioned,” she said.

With a common smart card,commuters will not need to wait in a queue to buy tokens. They will be able to swipe the card at the gate to the platform.

Ashok Datar,a city-based transport expert,said,“Although it may not be helpful to commuters immediately as the two corridors are not connected,it is a small beginning to a good concept. A seamless traveling card will be very helpful once more Metro and monorail corridors are commissioned and the card is linked to other modes of transport.”

The attempt at integrating different modes of transport is not new. In April 2008,the suburban railways and BEST undertaking had launched the ‘Go Mumbai’ card for seamless rail and bus travel. However,the card was discontinued due to reaons such as low user-friendliness and shortage of smart card readers.

The integrated ticketing system is being implemented by the Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMMTA),a regional transport set-up of MMRDA. The authority had started working on this concept nearly three years ago. UMMTA had engaged consultant KPMG to prepare a detailed report and subsequently received nine pre-qualification bids. However,the concept was put on hold as the union government announced a common utility card for seamless travel using public transport across the country.