Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) will be continuing with Electronic Ticket Issuing Machines (ETIMs), despite the presence of non-functioning machines in the system.
During the BEST Committee meeting on Thursday, members raised the issue of ETIMs, introduced around seven years ago with an intention to improve the ticketing system. In recent past, though, the system has been plagued with issues causing the BEST to go back to paper tickets.
“The e-ticketing system has been getting worse in the past 8-9 months, with 65% of machines not working. The BEST is reluctant to continue with Trimax for supply and maintenance of the machines despite signing a six-year contract with them in 2016,” Anil Kokil, member, BEST Committee, said.
There are around 9,000 machines allotted to conductors, but the vast majority have gone back to paper tickets. Conductors said, the few machines that do work, very often do not read cards. According to committee member Suhas Samant, failing ETIMs are one of the reasons for the drop in passengers. The daily ridership of BEST stood at 25.95 lakh, which was at over 40 lakh around 20 years ago. “Since the machines can’t read cards, people simply show their monthly passes, but there is no way to check if those are still valid. Hence there is a drop in numbers,” said Mr. Samant.
The BEST management is in the process of calling for fresh tenders for ETIMs along the guidelines specified for the National Common Mobility Card. BEST Committee members allege that the contract with Trimax stands and should continue. However, Surendra Bagde, General Manager, BEST Undertaking, said the contract does not adhere to the NCMC norms, and the organisation is assessing it on various parameters.
