New Delhi:
This is certainly a good news for Delhites. They will be soon able to use their Delhi Metro smart card for travelling in low-floor Delhi Transportation (DTC) buses. The Transport department is planning to enable the usage of the smart card so as to provide easier commutation to the people of the city. Under the pilot project, about 200 ( 100 low-floor and 100 cluster ) buses will be enabled to accept the metro smart card. The project is expected to be implemented by the middle of August.
The government has plans to extend this facility to all the buses which are operated by DTC and DIMTS, in case the project turns out to be successful. Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit system ( DIMTS) runs a cluster of buses in the city. The idea was pitched in the year 2010 and was expected to be operational at the time of Commonwealth Games. Major cities of the world have a similar system of a common mobility card. The Transport department is banking on the project to increase the ridership of DTC's 5,600 buses by next year.
DTC had conducted a trial last year when it used the smart card on an Electronic ticketing machine (ETM) which was installed in one of the buses. As a matter of fact, an ETM can read the common mobility card and provide an e-receipt as well.
It has been reported that DMRC has obtained statutory clearance from RBI so as to make the common mobility card functional. Currently, the process of intergation with the Transport department is in development.
