Thanks to glitches in the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates in the Chennai Metro Rail stations, people travelled for free on Saturday morning. AFC gates are the ones that check passengers’ smartcards and let them in.
Train services though were not disrupted and were running on schedule.
Around 6 a.m. onwards, in all 32 stations of the Chennai Metro Rail network, the problem started and the gates did not let passengers in or allow them to exit.
As soon as this problem occurred, the staff began issuing paper tickets for the first time, sources said. But this was soon stopped and passengers were allowed to travel for free till nearly 11 a.m., officials said.
For several months now, the AFC gates have had some minor problems in many stations, sources added.
