Only about 52,000 customers have switched to the paperless option, but the remaining continue to use the monthly passes. (File photo)

The common mobility card, launched by PMPML in 2017 to encourage its nearly 3 lakh monthly pass-holder passengers to switch to Mi Cards, has not found too many takers. Only about 52,000 customers have switched to the paperless option, but the remaining continue to use the monthly passes.

The Mi Card can also be used for other modes of transport, such as metros or autorickshaws. It was envisaged that in the future, the card will function as an ePurse, with the holder being able to use it for payment of civic bills and taxes, after compatible systems are set up at the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

Initially, PMPML had asked its over 10,000 employees to procure the cards, which would also have served as their identity cards, to enable them to commute to work free of charge. Despite initial opposition, the transport body has managed to persuade its staffers to switch to Mi Cards.

The idea of a Common Mobility Card was first floated in September 2010 when Dilip Band was the PMPML chief. The project, planned as part of the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, finally took off in March 2017, when Kunal Kumar was the PMPML chief.

Rahul Kumar, a PMPML commuter who travels from Shivajinagar to his office in Hinjewadi Phase II on weekdays, said he didn’t know about the Mi Card and would have preferred to buy it. But he felt the price of the card, Rs 118, was on the higher side. “The card should be priced at a nominal rate, say Rs 20. as a passenger will anyway have to load money in it to travel,” said Kumar.