CHENNAI: The defunct mobile ticket vending machines at the Chennai Moore Market Complex (MMC) are causing a lot of hardship to passengers who opt to book paper tickets through UTS mobile app. Many passengers, who booked their paper tickets through the mobile app, have forfeited their ticket fares after ticket vending machines failed to dispense the ticket, while a section of passengers were forced to stand in serpentine queues before the counters to buy tickets.
Aiming at reducing the passengers’ hassle in purchasing suburban and express tickets during rush hour, the Southern Railway (SR) launched ‘UTS’ mobile-based ticketing application in 2015 with much fanfare. The application provided options to book both paperless and paper tickets .Passengers, who choose the paperless ticket option, need to show their mobile phones duringthe ticket inspection, while those who opted for paper tickets should take printouts of tickets from mobile ticket vending machines (MTVM) and automatic ticket vending machines installed at the stations.
While the ticketing application received an overwhelming response from a section of suburban travellers as it enabled paperless ticket travel, many rail commuters were irked as they could not take printouts of the paper tickets booked through app. The six mobile ticket vending machines installed in the Chennai Moore Market Complex have been non-functional for several days, leaving the commuters in a lurch. In addition, the software glitches of UTS are adding to the passengers’ woes.
S Gopal of Thiruvallur, who booked a ticket from Chennai to Avadi, said he was forced to give up his ticket fare as he was made to undergo the tedious process to get a ticket. “After I keyed in the ticket details at MTVM, I did not receive any response for a while and later received an error message. When I enquired with the station official, I was asked to show the ticket details to a clerk at the counter. After waiting in a queue, I was told by the clerk that the ticket got delivered.
“When I disputed it, I was asked to wait for 15 minutes to open the machine to verify the receipt of the ticket. But I refused and bought a new ticket from the counter,” said Gopal. Many rail passengers choose to book paper ticket since mobile may go dry without a battery while booking tickets for their family members.
“I ran from pillar to post to get the ticket for Katpadi for nearly 20 minutes after the machines failed to print ticket. We cannot rely on the paperless ticket in mobile phones. Had I purchased the ticket through counter, I would have got the ticket in lesser time,” rued R Rajendran, another regular commuter. When contacted, SR officials said the issue had been taken up with the department concerned and soon the machines would be put in use.
Mobile disconnect
UTS mobile app launched in 2015 for booking tickets for express and suburban trains
Passengers who opted for paper tickets should take printouts of the tickets from Mobile Ticket Vending Machines (MTVM) and Automatic Ticket Vending Machines installed at the stations
A section of passengers prefer to take printouts as the mobile battery may get dried or switched off
Passengers could not take the printouts at MTVM
Counter software also shows ‘the ticket printed’
Passengers forced to give up their ticket fare due to faulty machines