CHENNAI: Chennaites could soon access Chennai Metro, suburban rail and metropolitan transport corporation buses using a single mobility card which was launched by Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) special officer I Jayakumar along with State Bank of India Chief General Manager R Radhakrishna on Friday.
The card also known as Singara Chennai Card is being launched by Chennai Metro in collaboration with the State Bank of India. "The co-branded National Common Mobility (NCMC) Ru-Pay card will initially be used for travelling in the metro and will be later used to access the railways and buses," said Jayakumar.
Jayakumar said the commuters could access the rail services once the Indian Railways comes out with a policy for releasing the card in the system. This could take a month or two, he said.
On the usage of cards in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses, he said that it will take nearly 10 months as the tender is being called for automatic fare collection (AFC) tender. Under the AFC process, the commuter can swipe the card and travel on the MTC bus.
Currently, the Singara Chennai cards can be used in Chennai metro stations and across all other metros in India that accept RuPay NCMC cards such as MMRDA Mumbai Line 2A & 7, Bangalore Metro, Delhi Metro Airport Line, Kanpur Metro, BEST Buses Mumbai, and Kadamba Transport Buses in Goa.
In the future, consumers may use this single card for payments in various parts and segments of the country which will include buses, suburban railways, toll, parking, smart city, and retail shops.
The underlying technology has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India on RuPay NCMC cards which are now being adopted nationally with all security features.
This card will be issued by SBI at Chennai metro stations and has a unique feature of a Stored Value Area which can be used to store a maximum amount of 2000 rupees that can be used for ticket purchases in Offline mode
SBI has also a dedicated website (https://transit.sbi/swift/customerportal?pagename=cmrl) for applying for a new card and for further recharging cards.
The card balance can be topped up via cash and through an online Bank account.
Initially, the issuance of NCMC cards will be at 7 stations --- Koyambedu Metro, Central Metro, Airport Metro, High Court Metro, Alandur Metro, Thirumangalam Metro and Guindy Metro. The card can be used in automatic gates of all metro stations.
The card is issued free of cost to passengers and can be used in all the Metros of India. The registration process is trouble-free with minimum KYC.