NEW DELHI: In a step towards integrating public transport for “seamless travel” in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on January 8 launched the pilot common mobility card for metro and buses.
Delhi became the first city in the country to have the facility and joined the ranks of global cities like London and Hong Kong.
But a reality check by The Sunday Standard revealed that city commuters are not muck enthused about the facility.
The facility allows Delhi metro cards to be used in buses. During the initial trial, 250 select buses, of which 200 are run by the Delhi Transport Corporation and the remaining 50 are cluster buses operated by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System, have been covered under the scheme. But the facility has not many takers as bus users complained it would make the commute much costlier for them.
“Rather than introducing such schemes, the government should focus on increasing the number of busses and reducing metro fares. We get monthly student pass made for `100 per month while the minimum charge for common mobility card is `100, which is spent in just a day if we take a long route. Then how does it help the general public? One can tale a full day ride in an AC DTC bus for `50. The new facility is just a way to extract money from us with no benefits,” said Megha Selpad, a DU student.
The government plans to expand the scheme in all buses by April. To create awareness among commuters, electronic boards installed in buses will inform passengers about the availability of this facility and notices have also been pasted.
“I am a daily commuter using public transport. Although the step by the government is in the right direction, the common mobility card facility is still expensive. Many fellow commuters I have met do not even know about the facility,” said Zakir Hussain, a business owner in Daryaganj.
According to sources, the success of the scheme is based on the perfect functioning of the Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs), which was introduced in DTC buses in 2016.
The Rajghat 1 DTC bus depot, which has been chosen for the introduction of the facility, has a total of 132 buses of which 100 have ETM machines and are accepting metro card for payment.
“Proper functioning of the ETM machines is crucial for its success. The first glitch is of insufficient battery power. If the machine is down, which happens quite often, then the payment mode is hand-written slip,” said Mani Ram, a DTC bus conductor. The battery life of ETM machine is 8 hours. So, depending only on the common mobility card would be a risky gamble, said Harbeer Singh, another conductor.