Parleys on for `smarter’ card for Rlys too

“If our pilot project is successful, then the railways may also also go in for it,” Lal said. He was speaking at the launch of the smart card in the city on Thursday. Ten smart-card compatible BEST buses will begin plying on the AC bus route between the Oshiwara and Backbay depots from Friday.

Under the pilot project the cards and validators are being supplied free of cost to the undertaking by a consortium comprising Philips India, Gemplus Technologies, VJ International and Intec.

Executives from Bangalore-basedconsultants VJ International confirmed that they had been approached by Indian Railways to install validators in Mumbai. Though the details are yet to be worked out, validators would be installed on a trial basis in a few railway stations with less commuter traffic. However, they apprehend a division of revenue between the BEST and railway authorities, to be a problem.

“The cards will have to be sold by a third party like the RBI which will then settle accounts between the two,” he said. The RBI has already begun studies on multiple payment applications of smart cards.

The prepaid card — similar to the `simcard’ for cell phone users — is available in denominations of Rs 100 to Rs 500. It enables passengers to make bus journeys by simply flashing the card before a validator installed in the bus.

Lal said that the undertaking would install validators on 65 buses from November 5 until February next year. Addressing the media, he said that this was a step in the direction of single-man operations (wherethe conductor is redundant).