Mumbai:
Part two of the city's experiment for a common transport ticketing card, on the lines of London's Oyster Card or Hong Kong's Octopus card, has just begun. The Indian railways has promised to come to the city's rescue for this project, after the failure of the 'Go Mumbai' card, the city's much-promised common transport card.
The Railways has already embarked on a project to convert the railway ticketing smart card into a city transport card, to be used on several applications. In Delhi, trials have begun with the Delhi Metro.
The railway card, called the Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) card, has been a hit with Mumbai's seven million commuters, and has been extensively used by new and existing commuters.
"We understand the importance of making smart cards work across different modes of transport. In Mumbai, this requires some upgradation of technology, and the Railway Board is likely to take a decision soon," said Madhav Pathak, managing director, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) in New Delhi. CRIS is the national IT arm of the Indian Railways.
"In Delhi, the ATVM system is being introduced with the capability of multiple applications being supported, and CRIS is collaborating with the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation on this," Pathak added. "More than five percent of the passengers on central railways (CR) already use our smart card. We are identifying novel methods to promote it," CR chief spokesperson SC Mudgerikar said.
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