The State government has expressed interest in implementing the National Common Mobility Card (NMCC), an omnibus cashless travel card that can be used across different modes of transport, according to S K Lohia, Officer on Special Duty (Urban Transport), Union Ministry of Urban Development.
He was in the city on Tuesday to hold a meeting with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and Chennai Metro Rail Limited and the Chennai Corporation, which handles parking lots.
“The users have to just swipe the cards instead of purchasing tickets. They can also pay parking and toll charges. It is not a debit or credit card, but a cash card. The money can be loaded into the card in different denominations,” said Mr. Lohia..
“The department is trying to ensure that the card is easily available like mobile recharge cards.
“The card is called MORE, after the Hindi word for the national bird peacock and also conveying the message that the user gets more out of this card,” said Mr. Lohia. While Tamil Nadu is yet to take steps for introducing the card, Jaipur has already signed an agreement with UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited (UTIITSL) – a company under the Finance Ministry engaged to roll out of the card on a pan-India basis.
“All transport operators, including every autorickshaw owner, should sign an agreement with UTIITSL. Today's meeting was for sensitising the operators. After this, UTIITSL will have a separate meeting with them to carry it out on a fast track mode,” said Lohia.
The National Urban Transport policy aims at providing multi-modal integration to provide seamless connectivity across all modes of transport.
“As far as the passenger is concerned, he should be able to move from one transport mode to another with ease,” said Lohia.
This prompted the rolling out of the common mobility card on December 6, 2011, by Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath. “We wanted a common card using which a person can pay the fare across all transport operators, government and private, and transport modes, besides parking and toll charges across different cities in the country,” said Lohia.
As per the report submitted by E Sreedharan, who headed the working Group on urban transport for the 12th Five-Year Plan, the countrywide implementation is targeted in the early years of the 12th Plan.
National helpline
Apart from the card, a national public transport helpline will be launched. “The common man has to dial different numbers to get details about train, buses and also complain about haggling by autorickshaw drivers. So, we will be rolling out two common numbers – 155220 and 155221. This can be easily remembered. We have advised all States to move to these numbers as the common transport helpline,” said Mr. Lohia.
