L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad), the concessionaire which is building and running the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, has announced on Wednesday a 10% discount on all trips made through smart cards up to March 31, 2018. In addition, Paytm too is offering a flat ₹20 cash-back on first time recharge of ₹100 or more per card for passengers recharging their smart card through it.
Metro rail officials said smart cards could be purchased from ticketing offices at all the 24 stations on the Nagole-Ameerpet-Miyapur stretch and can also be recharged at the stations. It is also possible to recharge smart cards through TSavaari App, Paytm and HMR Passenger website and by using Add Value Machine (AVM) located in paid area on the station concourse.
Digital economy
Passengers have the choice of choosing a smart card or a token for travelling on metro, they said, even while advocating travel by smart cards for a hassle-free journey to promote the digital economy. While acknowledging the “overwhelming response” from commuters, the officials also informed that water dispensing kiosks are being set up in all the stations.
With regard to rest rooms, L&TMRH said these are available in the unpaid area of the concourse and passengers could cross over from one side of the concourse to the other by informing the station staff for using them. However, dustbins are not being provided due to security reasons.
Parking facilities
Though most announcements made were automatic, ‘emergency’ announcements are being triggered by the station staff for the safety of passengers. Parking facilities currently are available for passengers at Nagole, Parade Grounds, Rasoolpura, Balanagar, Kukatpally and Miyapur in the 30-km stretch where the trains are running.
It was also stated that the so called ‘fake tokens’ are actually test tokens used by the operations and maintenance teams for testing the automatic fare collection system and the same are mixed with the original tokens and taken back in due course.
Passengers are also being informed that metro trains are available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the first train starting from Nagole, Ameerpet and Miyapur stations, similarly the last trains too are also from these stations. There is a train every eight minutes from Miyapur to Ameerpet and every 16 minutes from Nagole to Ameerpet. “We are also exploring the option of reducing the time within the statutory requirements,” metro rail officials added.
