Regular bus passengers will soon have a reason to cheer as the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has decided to run public trials of its smart card system from November 15.
The smart card, which will allow for cashless travel, was scheduled for introduction in September but was delayed due to technical issues.
Open trials
Earlier, the plan was to run closed trials around October-end, but now it has been decided to invite some members of the public to participate in open trials to weed out bugs before the launch.
“We are yet to think of a way in which the members participating in the trial will be selected. But they will be our regular commuters and not just employees of BMTC. With these trials, we are targeting December-end for the formal launch of the smart card system,” said Ekroop Caur, Managing Director, BMTC.
A long-standing demand of many customers, the sale of smart cards will ensure that the age-old problem of tendering exact change will be done away with. Around 52 lakh people use BMTC’s services daily and complaints about issues with change for ticket fares are perennial.
Based on an open-loop system, the smart cards will be customisable and will be available at the Traffic and Transit Management Centres as well as other areas. Recharges will also be possible at different BMTC centers or by the bus conductors themselves who are equipped with e-ticketing machines that will be able to read these smart cards.
Smart cards
to put an end to the problem of tendering exact change
RIDERSHIP
Total buses: 6404
Daily ridership: 52 lakh
