A senior MMRDA official said commuters who used at least three modes of transport for a single journey faced the issue of spending a long time standing in queues to purchase tickets or looking for change money. (Source: File Photo)A PROJECT to bring various means of transport under a single ticketing system will have to wait as tenders floated in January failed to attract bidders.
The integrated ticket system (ITS), that was expected to be rolled out in the beginning of 2020, is aimed at enabling a “seamless” commute through various means of public transport. Now, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has extended the deadline of submitting documents to February 27.
The last date previously was February 15, but the MMRDA did not receive any bid from interested parties. A senior MMRDA official said, “Earlier, we had planned to make only one type of card. But according to the new plan, the ITS will have both an account-based system and store value features. As of now, no country has such a hybrid card and so, we are struggling to get a response from bidders.”
In 2018, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) had raised a query against the ITS and demanded an account storage card. To solve the issue, in a joint meeting of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal in December 2018, it was decided that the ITS will have both an account-based system and store value features.
Officials said the MMRDA wanted the card to be purely account-based, highlighting that countries such as the United Kingdom were moving towards a similar system. The railways, however, wanted the card to have a store value component in addition to the account-based system as they felt it will be more suitable under Indian conditions.
Senior railway officials said while the decision to include both features was taken in the meeting, it was yet to be decided which feature will be used for ticketing.
A senior MRVC official from the MRVC said there were more than 115 stations across three suburban railway lines. “Some of these will have to be modified to introduce the gates meant for the project and that could not be achieved overnight,” added the official.
So, the focus in the initial stage will be on the use of smart cards, especially by seasoned ticket holders and the installation of tap in/out points.
Numerous attempts to provide all modes of transport under a single ticket system have failed in the past. In 2018, the MMRDA almost finalised the contractor for the system but the tenders were cancelled when the MRVC raised its demand.
A senior MMRDA official said commuters who used at least three modes of transport for a single journey faced the issue of spending a long time standing in queues to purchase tickets or looking for change money. The introduction of the ITS will ensure that commuters can skip repeated cash payments for a single trip.
