BENGALURU: Namma Metro commuters finally seem to have woken up to the discount offered by the Metro Travel Card. For the first time since its inception, over 55 percent of its commuters who hopped on board a train throughout November have preferred the Travel Card over the token.
In the process, it has clocked its highest average revenue per day last month. The card, also referred to as the Contactless Smart Card or Varshik Card, provides a 15 percent discount on any trip undertaken in a Metro train. Despite the discount offered on the card, online currency topping-up of the card saw long queues at Metro stations to purchase tokens, with a majority commuters preferring the round token.
However, commuter preferences have definitely changed in the last three months. Beginning September, over half of Metro commuters have decided to switch over to the smart card. “The trend reached a peak of 55.09 percent of Metro riders using the card in November,” said outgoing Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Pradeep Singh Kharola.
The average ridership in November ranged between 3.6 lakh and 3.7 lakh passengers per day. “If this continues, we will definitely have a scenario in the future wherein 75-80 per cent of commuters would switch over to Travel Cards,” he said.