Many bus operators in the Greater Kochi area are reluctant to adopt cashless ticketing-cum-bus-tracking system a month after the extension of the Kochi-1 prepaid card to private buses.
A reason is that a section of operators is negotiating with a firm that developed a multi-modal journey planner for Kochi to source alternative ticketing machines to enable cashless travel, it is learnt. This will affect the prospect of ticketing machines supplied by a private bank in association with KMRL, being made available in all the 1,000 city and mofussil private buses. The machines also have GPS to enable tracking of buses.
K.B. Suneer of Kochi Wheelz United said the machines were distributed to a few hundred buses. “Many others are reluctant to opt for the machine, citing daily payment of over ₹100 (it varies in proportion to collection) to the bank. Each day, a bus needs paper tickets which cost between ₹50 and ₹60. The introduction of the machine has resulted in each bus incurring additional expenditure between ₹50 and ₹100 every day as rent. We cannot afford this since there has been a fall in passenger patronage the commissioning of the Kochi metro,” he said. “The firm which has offered us the machine has agreed to halve the rent rate. It has assured that KMRL’s Kochi-1 app can be used in the machine,” said Mr. Suneer.
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Nisar Karukapadath of My Metro has a contrary view. He said many bus operators preferred the cashless ticketing-cum-bus-tracking system launched in March. “For the additional expense of approximately ₹50, bus owners can track ticketing income by the minute, travelling pattern, and pilferage if any by bus crew. This helps them plan trips better and to redeploy crew, based on peak and off-peak hours. No doubt Kochi-1 system is better and futuristic,” he said.
A public transportation expert said unlike the machines that were in use, the GPS that many other firms in the fray had were not certified by Automotive Research Association of India. Cashless payments made thus could be risky as they might not adhere to RBI norms, he said.