BENGALURU: While the Congress government’s ambitious Shakti scheme completed one month on Tuesday, smart cards for women passengers are yet to be a reality. Top officials from bus corporations revealed that the process to issue the cards will start after a month. It will be just an ‘identity card’ and conductors will issue ‘zero tickets’ after checking them. There will be no ‘tap-and-travel’ technology like in Namma Metro for now as it is too costly and will put a burden on cash-strapped bus corporations.
The delay in issuing Shakti smart cards is affecting bus operations and is putting a huge strain on conductors who have to verify the local domicile from the identity cards of all the women passengers before issuing ‘zero tickets’. This is resulting in buses reaching late, especially during peak hours.
“If Shakti cards are issued, we can just look at the cards and need not verify their local domicile. This will save time and reduce our burden,” said a bus conductor.
“As of now, the government is focussing on Gruha Jyothi. Applications for Shakti smart cards will start in about a month’s time. Till then, women have to travel by producing any local identity proofs. The conductors will verify it and issue ‘zero tickets’,” a top official from Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) said.
“We have technology wherein a passenger gets into the bus and taps the smart card into the scanner and repeats it while getting down, like how it’s done in Metro. However, given the financial burden of implementing this, we are not keen on it. It may be introduced in the future,” the official explained.As the government is focusing now on rolling out Gruha Jyoti and Gruha Lakshmi, smart cards are likely to be issued only in August, he said.