Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) recent move to put an end to topping up Metro travel cards at the customer care cubicles in its 40 Metro stations has upset passengers to no end. They now need to stand in a queue to top up their cards. BMRCL, however, insists the move will improve customer service.
Prior to this decision, a commuter had to place his or her card at the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gate. If they got an intimation about the lack of cash balance, they could instantly top it up at the cubicle nearby. While travel tokens have to be purchased only at the ticketing counters, these smart cards could be topped up either at counters or customer care centres.
The official order by Deputy General Manager of Operations to stop the top ping up of cards at customer care centres came on December 12. While some stations have put up notices to this effect, most stations have not done so.
Advocate S Asha, a commuter at Kempe Gowda Metro station, said, “I am not happy with this. We began our trip at Indiranagar Metro station but my daughter was told to go the ticketing queue today. It took her a long time to top up the card.” Her husband K Prakash agreed, saying, “It is not as if BMRCL has to put in place any new facilities. Why remove a service provided to us and make us wait in long queues?”
IT executive Tarun S said, “BMRCL should popularise the online top-up option rather than resort to such measures.” BMRCL Managing Director Ajay Seth, however, said the customer care centres were set up for a different purpose. “They need to take care of the problems of commuters. So, we asked them to stick to the purpose for which they were created,” he said.