Imagine a world where you no longer empty your pockets for change and curse your luck for long-winding queues at bus depots and Delhi Metro railway stations. With the launch of a new common mobility card ‘More Delhi’ on Saturday that ensures cashless travel across different modes of transport, commuting just got easier with one swipe of the card.
The common mobility card, a pet project of the Union Ministry of Urban Development which was announced in December 2011, aims at making travel in the city more convenient. However, as a first step, the card can only be used by commuters on Metro trains and select feeder buses. Commuters using 10 Delhi Metro-run feeder buses on Routes ML 5 and ML 56 plying from Shastri Park Metro station to Mayur Vihar Phase III would be able to avail of this service. Presently, around 3,000 commuters travel each day by feeder buses on these two routes.
By the end of the year, the “More Card”, that will slowly replace Delhi Metro’s famous Smart Cards, will be extended for use on Delhi Transport Corporation buses, the cluster buses run by DIMTS, taxis and even at parking lots across the city. “More Cards can soon be used not just on the Metro and feeder buses but also in the Rapid Metro in Gurgaon,” said Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s Managing Director Mangu Singh. “A commuter need not stand in queue to get a new ticket and a new card,” he said, adding eventually the Delhi Metro will start selling ‘More Cards’ and not ‘Smart Cards’.
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Urban Development Ministry Secretary and DMRC Chairman Sudhir Krishna, who launched the common mobility card, said negotiations have already begun to extend the ‘More Card’ facilities to DTC services. “We are working out the modalities regarding the handheld devices and the software that is needed. DTC or any other partner on this project will ask us what our experience has been. So we have launched it first in Delhi Metro and feeder buses,” he said.
The common mobility card is the product of the development of a low-cost hand-held device by a Bangalore-based Indian firm in association with Delhi Metro. “In Phase-2 of the project, the ‘More Card’ will become a national mobility card which can be used in other cities across the country,” said Mr. Krishna.
DMRC is also working on further upgrading the smart card facilities. By the end of the year, commuters will be able to get their cards recharged automatically at the AFC gates through a tie up with their bank accounts and machines will also be installed at stations through which the commuters will be able to recharge their cards with the help of credit and debit cards.
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Approximately 65 per cent of Delhi Metro commuters use Smart Cards for their journey.