BENGALURU: The unreserved ticketing system (UTS) app, launched by
South Western Railway (SWR) on February 8, has received 17,235 registered users in a month. Of this, 12,387 are from Bengaluru, followed by 3,198 from
Mysuru and 1,650 from
Hubballi divisions.
“An average of 2,000 passengers in SWR are using the UTS app daily, which translates into a ticket revenue of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per day. We hope this number will further increase in the next few months because of more awareness campaigns,” said N S
Sridharamurthy, senior divisional commercial manager, SWR (Bengaluru).
Every day, some 5 lakh people undertake unreserved journey in SWR limits. However, passengers have been complaining about several technical glitches. For instance, the app is yet to be made available on the iOS platform and users are also unable to transfer the balance amount if they change their handsets or phone numbers.
Some passengers complained about connectivity issues too. “The user needs to be at least20-25m from thetracktobook a ticket through UTS. Many passengers in stations like Yeshwantpur are using this app as they don’t have to stand in queues,” said T P Lokesh from Karnataka Railway Vedike, a rail advocacy group.
“Users can contactour customer care once they change their handsets or phone numbers to transfer the balance amount. We will soon launch the app in iOS platform as well,” Sridharamurthy said.
While UTS allows passengers to book paperless tickets for a journey between two stations within SWR, app users traveling outside the SWR limits will have to take prints of their tickets from the railway Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs).
“We have installed sufficient number of ATVMs at all railway stations. For instance,
KSR Bengaluru City railway station alone has nearly 15 ATVMs. We are also conducting several awareness campaigns through social media and also at railway stations to popularize the app,” said N S Sridharamurthy, senior divisional commercial manager of SWR (Bengaluru division).
Representative image
