With demonetization the talk of the town and going cashless the need of the hour, BMTC started cashless rides on a trial basis, last Monday. BMTC managing director Ekroop Caur said the service will be formally launched in January 2017.
The passenger just needs to tap a smart card on an electronic ticketing machine while boarding and alighting the bus, and the fare is deducted from the cash stored in the card. This will reduce the need to tender change to commuters and increase transparency for BMTC.
"The card is in line with the national mission of having a common mobility card. It has specifications where the card can be used for transit and non-transit transactions. The card will be launched for citizens by January 2017. Right now, we are running a trial for our staff to see if all the specifications are working or not," she added.
Caur felt there should be no increase in fares, to keep public transport affordable and attract passengers. "I intend to increase the fleet strength to 12,000 buses and have proposed procurement of 3,000 more buses in the next fiscal. That will help us increase the reliability of schedules and usage of buses by the public to 60%. Right now, it is only 40% because fares are high. I don't want to increase fares in the near future because that discourages people from using buses, and they depend on private transport, add to congestion and derail our common goal of achieving sustainability ," she explained.
The passenger just needs to tap a smart card on an electronic ticketing machine while boarding and alighting the bus, and the fare is deducted from the cash stored in the card. This will reduce the need to tender change to commuters and increase transparency for BMTC.
"The card is in line with the national mission of having a common mobility card. It has specifications where the card can be used for transit and non-transit transactions. The card will be launched for citizens by January 2017. Right now, we are running a trial for our staff to see if all the specifications are working or not," she added.
Caur felt there should be no increase in fares, to keep public transport affordable and attract passengers. "I intend to increase the fleet strength to 12,000 buses and have proposed procurement of 3,000 more buses in the next fiscal. That will help us increase the reliability of schedules and usage of buses by the public to 60%. Right now, it is only 40% because fares are high. I don't want to increase fares in the near future because that discourages people from using buses, and they depend on private transport, add to congestion and derail our common goal of achieving sustainability ," she explained.