In a few weeks, smartcards of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) will be available in a few retail outlets and restaurants in the city.
In an attempt to get more people to start using the smartcard system, CMRL has planned to distribute the cards to a few outlets.
According to officials of CMRL, this is an attempt to increase the number of people travelling on the system.
“As a start, we have identified several restaurants and retail outlets that are willing to accept our cards. We want to give about 2,000-2,500 cards initially and gauge the response. We will also give them a small commission for selling the cards. We have to see how this initiative works and if it turns out to be successful, we can reach out to more outlets in future,” an official said. Apart from this, they are also planning to send out staff in stations to persuade commuters to buy smartcards. CMRL gets about 80,000 passengers on average and officials are looking at various ways to see how the footfalls can be increased to at least 1 lakh.
Considering the rising number of COVID-19 cases, sources said it was going to be a difficult target to achieve. They said while this move may help, the ideal thing would be for the State government to bring in a single card system where a commuter can use these cards in buses, malls and retail outlets or restaurants.
“Then, commuters will use these cards to pay everywhere. This was the idea when smartcards were mooted initially. Then, MTC bus stops should be shifted close to stations so that commuters can walk from point to point without hassle,” an official said.