BENGALURU: After five months, city commuters could breathe easier as Namma Metro services officially resumed on Monday as part of Unlock 4.0. However, apart from low occupancy, another major hiccup for the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) was that commuters found it difficult to go cashless. TNIE noticed several commuters who wanted to take the Metro on Monday morning, but were unable to buy smart cards due to lack of e-wallets. In its SOP, BMRCL said the token system would be dropped, and smart cards could be bought and recharged digitally.A S Shankar, executive director, Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL, told TNIE, there is no alternate mode of payment given the Covid situation. Once cases reduce, other options can be explored.
App runs into glitches
The Namma Metro mobile app, which was given much-publicity for its smart card top-up feature, was unavailable for download, as Google security checks had not been completed. The app, which can be downloaded on all mobiles except iPhones, was available on the BMRCL website from Sunday night.
A senior Metro official said that they had submitted the app on Friday night. “Security audits on Google Play Store take a few days. We expected it to be available for download on Sunday night. By Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, hopefully, it will be available for download,” the official said. Work is on to make the app available on iStore, which could take a month.
Those who had tried to top-up smart cards on the BMRCL website said it took an hour for the amount to reflect. The official explained, “Unlike other smart cards, where recharges happen instantaneously, here, the transaction has to be approved by the software that handles automatic fare collection of all 40 Metro stations. So, it takes at least an hour for the top-up to reflect.”
Safety concerns
Metro stations on Day-1 wore a forlorn look, raising questions about safety, especially for women. At the end of the day, the footfall in the 91-round trips made on the Purple Line was equivalent to just one trip before the lockdown. Opening hour saw only 239 commuters, and the maximum ridership on a train from 10am-11am was just 1,046, official data showed.Shankar said it was because schools and colleges are shut, IT professionals are working from home, fear of travelling by Metro, non-awareness of smart cards having to be recharged in advance.
in numbers Total round trips (Baiyappanahalli-Mysuru Road) 91 New Metro cards sold 374
Revenue Rs 1.25 lakh