A mammoth 70 per cent of Delhi Metro commuters are smart card users, but when it comes to recharging their cards, almost all of them still get it done by standing in long queues at metro stations.
Clearly, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) existing online recharge facility has failed to penetrate into the daily usage of a commuter. In view of the cold response, the mass rapid transporter has now decided to revamp its smart card online recharge system by emphasising on ‘incentives’.
Poor response
In one year, the DMRC has witnessed only 1.71 lakh online smart card transactions against the 1.5 crore smart cards that are currently in circulation in the Delhi Metro network.
Despite launching several ways in which a commuter can recharge a smart card through cashless transactions, none of the modes seem to have actually worked for the corporation.
“At present people can top-up or recharge through mobile wallet Paytm or through our website where one can directly use net-banking or debit, credit cards. However, most people continue to recharge at the stations itself which often results in long queues during peak hours,” said a metro official. The Delhi Metro has a daily ridership of over 26 lakh out of which almost 69 per cent are smart card users.
Major drawback
The biggest reason for the lukewarm response towards the cashless system is that even after making the online payment, one still has to swipe the smart card on an Automatic Vending Machine (AVM) at a metro station to complete the recharge process. “Another reason is that as of now we have limited platforms through which people can perform online recharges. Besides, many people are unaware of the facility itself,” the official added.
New project
Under its new project, the DMRC plans to create an online payment ecosystem to motivate smart card users to do high value online recharges through third party websites and mobile apps.
“The vendor will have to incentivise users by doing marketing campaign so as to motivate them to do high value online recharges. The new system will also have to be connected with the AVM server so that a person does not have to physically swipe a card on an AVM to complete the recharge process,” said another official.
A tender has already been floated where the bidder has been asked to come up with a dedicated website and a mobile application system to facilitate the cashless transaction process.
The DMRC also plans to install additional 700 AVMs covering existing and new stations coming up under Phase-III for quick recharges. Presently, there are approximately 300 AVMs at various Phase-I and II stations.
In one year, the
Delhi Metro has
witnessed only 1.71 lakh online smart card transactions
