The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking may become the first public transport operator in the city to implement the Centre’s One Nation One Card system.
The pilot project will start by November, said Surendrakumar Bagde, BEST general manager. “We will be starting the pilot on a few routes initially and then take a call of expanding it,” Mr. Bagde said. The BEST is working with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which will be developing the automatic fare collection (AFC) system, and Bharat Electricals Limited, which will be developing the Electronic Ticket Issuing Machines (ETIM). Mr. Bagde said the ETIMs will be different from the ones currently used on BEST buses.
Under the One Nation One Card system, credit and debit cards can be read by AFC systems of all public transport organisations. The ticket fare will be deducted from an inbuilt wallet within the card, which will not be linked to one’s bank account. Mr. Bagde said the Central government was footing the bill for the pilot project.
Expansion plans
Mr. Bagde also said they were developing a mobile application as part of their Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS), which will allow commuters to track buses across the city.
Mr. Bagde said, “We will soon be launching the mobile application. We have implemented a system that records bus turnout across all depots digitally and are in the process of expanding it to bus chowkies.”
The ITMS will provide commuters real-time location and expected time of arrival of buses at all bus stops. It will also include a public information system on board, informing commuters of bus stops.
Mr. Bagde said all buses in the BEST fleet have been fitted with GPS devices for the project, and the organisation will be in a position to conduct trials within a month.
