SRTC’s smart travel card to get a Metro touch
THE UPSRTC’S MULTIPURPOSE TRAVEL CARD WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH THE LMRC, THE DMRC AND DTC.
LUCKNOW: It’s the art of smart travel involving multiple modes of transport and a nifty card. So, picture this scenario in the new age. A passenger takes a UPSRTC bus in Allahabad, gets down at the Charbagh bus station in Lucknow, boards a metro train from there and again alights at Munshi Pulia from where he rides a city bus to Jankipuram. All the while, the passenger uses multiple modes of transport without having to buy tickets separately every time.
Though the idea may appear far-fetched at present, it is going to be a reality in Lucknow and the National Capital Region (NCR) very soon. The UPSRTC’s multipurpose travel card will be integrated with the Lucknow Metro Corporation (LMRC), the Delhi Metro Corporation (DMRC) and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). The corporation has won the national award recently for taking the lead in the country in successfully introducing the smart card,
Having a single travel card will enable passengers to use multiple modes of transport without having to buy tickets separately each time they switch over from a UPSRTC bus to metro or from metro to a city bus and the like. The prescribed fare value will be deducted from the same travel card when it is swiped and the amount will automatically transfer to the utility whose mode of transport is used. “A committee headed by LMRC managing director Kumar Keshav has already starting working out the modalities for the integration of the UPSRTC’s smart travel card with the Lucknow metro,” sources said, adding, “We will have to set up a common clearance house (CCH) to transfer the fare value from one source to another.”
Sources said the facility might come earlier in the NCR where setting up the common clearance house was easier since all the three -- the UPSRTC, the DMRC and the DTC -- had the ICIC as a common banker. The UPSRTC had introduced smart travel cards in the denominations up to Rs 3,000 last year and has sold 1.35 lakh such cards so far, enabling the users to make a cash-less journey in any UPSRTC bus any time. One can buy the travel card and get the same topped up across the counter at any UPSRTC bus station. The user can also transfer upto Rs 10,000 to the travel card and utilise the value to purchase things like one does with a debit card.
The UPSRTC, last week, won three first prizes for the highest profitability, the best mileage and introduction of the multi-purpose travel card for the first time in the country. The awards were given by the Association of State Road Undertakings.
“Now, many states have requested us to help them roll out the smart travel card for their state road transport corporations,” claimed an official. He said the UPSRTC was also working on adding new variants of the existing travel card. “These include a single usage pass that will allow single journey to any destination upto certain km with heavy discounts and the day pass that will allow unlimited journey on a single date with deep discounts,” he disclosed.