Govt starts contactless tickets on all DTC buses
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday, for the first time since its inception, expanded its ambitious contactless ticketing service to all its Delhi transport corporation (DTC) buses. The ticketless scheme was introduced by the government in May-june last year during the lockdown in order to cut down on physical human interaction that increased the chances of spread of Covid-19.
Passengers can make use of this service through the ‘Chartr’ app. Almost all the buses now have QR code stickers pasted on the back of each seat which can be scanned to make payment through the app. Several buses, though not all, also had posters explaining in Hindi how one should proceed with the online ticket purchase by using the app.
HT hopped onto a few buses and, however, found that most passengers still preferred to pay cash and coins and take paper tickets.
On Day One of the complete roll-out of the system, at least 1,601 contactless general tickets and 5,015 pink tickets -— the free tickets for women passengers — were issued till 10pm on Wednesday, government record showed.
“Till 9pm, the total collection through online transactions of tickets was ₹18,829. As many as 114 daily passes were issued on Wednesday through the contactless ticketing system amounting to a total collection of ₹ 5,150,” said RS Minhas, deputy general manager (PR), DTC.
He, however, said the service is currently being run on a trial basis with an aim to fix technical glitches or physical problems faced by passengers or the conductors. Delhi has at least 3,700 DTC buses and prior to Wednesday, the trials were going on only in 128 DTC buses.
A similar trial run is also going on in the city’s cluster buses. A senior official of the Delhi integrated multi-modal transit system (DIMTS) limited said at present, trials of the contactless ticketing service is being carried out in 497 of the 2,990 cluster buses in the Capital.
“The plan is to formally launch the contactless ticketing system in all the 6,750 state-run buses — 3,760 DTC and 2,990 cluster — from March,” a senior transport official said.