BENGALURU: Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) ambitious plan to put an end to the complaints of ‘no change’ seems to have been postponed. BMTC was all set to roll out the UPI-based ticketing system, like Google Pay, Phone Pe, and credit and debit cards, to buy tickets in December. But the plan has been delayed as the transport corporation is waiting for the best offer on transaction charges from banks.
If there is one major complaint, apart from the high ticket price, against BMTC is that conductors do not tender the exact change. It is even worse when passengers, who do not have exact change, are asked to get off the bus. Megha, who works in a private company, said she either has to get the exact change while boarding the bus or does not bother about getting back the exact change.
“We understand the situation of conductors as they see hundreds of passengers every day. However, they should also understand our situation that we too cannot carry the exact change to board the bus.” Many BMTC passengers are waiting for UPI-based ticketing so that they can say goodbye to the ‘loose change’ issue.
BMTC sources said the system is all set to be rolled out and the corporation is waiting for a reply from banks. Once the bank that offers the maximum discount on the transaction charges and Merchant Discount Rate is finalised, they will roll out UPI-based ticketing, they added.
BMTC conductors will have a handheld device where they will feed in the destination of the passenger. The machine will calculate the price and show up a code, which the passenger should scan through their Google Pay or PhonePe and once the transaction is complete, a physical ticket is generated. Tickets will not be generated for failed transactions and in such cases, passengers must pay cash.