THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KSRTC is set to roll out student concession passes as smart cards. Students from classes 1 to 12 will be able to use
the chip-based card for travelling on a specified route for 25 days a month.
“The smart cards would be introduced within 20 days,” Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar said.
“KSRTC has decided to replace paper passes with smart cards embedded with chips. These can store route details and track the number of travel days. Conductors will validate the card by scanning it on the ticketing machine,” he said, adding that the paper system was laborious and the new format would be more efficient. Plus One students will be eligible for a smart card with two-year validity. The annual fee of the concession card will remain unchanged at `110. KSRTC also plans to extend the smart card facility to persons with disabilities.
Around four lakh general-purpose travel cards will be introduced for the public and made available in the market.