Mumbai is likely to be the first city in the India where the Centre’s ambitious One Nation One Card system will be implemented.
The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has sent a proposal for the card to the Railway Board after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a mention of the card in her Budget speech on Friday. The Railways is proposing a Public-Private Partnership model for the card, which is based on the National Common Mobility Card. “We have sent the proposal to the Railway Board. Once it gets approved, we will invite tenders,” said R.S. Khurana, chairman and managing director of MRVC.
The MMRDA will still be creating the umbrella system which will integrate all public transport services in Mumbai. In the One Nation One Card scheme, people will be able to use public transport services using debit and credit cards which run on the RuPay payment scheme. All banks will be permitted to issue the cards.
Exclusive access
Railways officials are planning to give a few banks the exclusive authority of issuing suburban passes. An official said, “While people will be able to buy single journey tickets using cards issued by any bank, only a few banks will have the option of issuing season passes.” In return, the banks with exclusive access will finance the infrastructure required such as installing 600 card tapping machines across stations in the city.
