Metro smart card can now be used to pay for parking too

Kicks off at Koyambedu; to be extended to all stations soon

On an average, 8,000 vehicles are parked at stations across the 45-km network every day.

Come Friday, commuters at Koyambedu Metro station can swipe their smart travel card in the parking lot too. After a fortnight, this facility will gradually be extended to all 32 stations across the city.

“So far, commuters paid parking charges in cash. Under the new system, they can swipe the smart card and leave quickly. The amount of time a commuter spends in waiting to pay and exit the parking space will certainly come down,” a CMRL official said. Chennai Metro earns about ₹40 lakh by way of parking charges.

CMRL officials have been trying to integrate travel and parking for a while to prevent outsiders from parking at the stations.

“Over the past six months, we found several people who were not commuting by Chennai Metro taking monthly passes and using our parking space while our commuters were not getting the parking slot they wanted,” an official pointed out.

Charges doubled

Now, the CMRL has doubled charges for monthly parking passes at some stations like Chennai Airport, Thirumangalam, Anna Nagar East, Ashok Nagar, Guindy, Mannadi, Nanganallur Road and Meenambakkam. “We wanted to bring in this integration to ensure only Chennai Metro commuters parked the vehicles at the stations,” another official said.