Residents of Delhi would soon be able to seamlessly travel across the city using a common travel card that will work in Metro trains, as well as in DTC buses. Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has issued a tender on Thursday to procure computerised ticketing machines which will not only issue computerised tickets on payment of cash, but will also accept smart cards issued by Delhi Metro as well as DTC.
“The tender has been opened and the process should be completed in a few months. In the first phase, the ticketing will be computerised so that a group of 10 people can buy a single computer-generated ticket instead of multiple tickets, which will save a lot of paper as well. Once the system becomes stable, we will start the process of using smart cards to buy tickets as well,” said Dr RS Minhas, DCGM (PR) of DTC.
At present, the tickets of DTC buses are pre-printed for denominations of Rs 5, 10, 15 and 20. Each commuter is given a separate ticket, or a combination of tickets, amounting to the total fare. The introduction of computerised ticketing will not only save paper, but will also make the job of the conductors easier and will make travelling cashless and convenient for the commuters.
While the back-end infrastructure for the impleme-ntation of the smart card facility will be provided by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), both DTC and DMRC will issue the smart cards. The cards issued by DTC will also be valid on the Metro and those issued by the DMRC will be valid on DTC buses as well. There are plans to expand the validity of the card to other means of public transport as well.