NEW DELHI: A year after cashless transactions were introduced at ticket counters post-demonetisation, an abysmal 3 per cent of 23 million passengers are using credit/debit cards for buying tickets.
According to data provided by the Railways, tickets worth Rs 80 crore are bought every day through the online booking system, while passengers continue to buy tickets worth Rs 78 crore (Rs 30 crore for reserved and Rs 48 crore for unreserved tickets) daily at ticket counters with cash. About 94 per cent of the 23 million train passengers travel unreserved in trains.
After demonetisation on November 8, 2016, the Railways introduced point of sale (POS) machines at reservation counters across the country to encourage digital payments. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation continues to waive service charges on train tickets booked online.
“In unreserved ticketing (94 per cent of total passengers), people prefer paying by cash. At suburban stations, people don’t pay through debit/credit card even when POS machines and payment wallets are present,” said Mohammad Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board.
In e-ticketing, the Railways has seen a rise of 12 per cent. While 58 per cent of reserved tickets were booked online last year, the number rose to 70 per cent after demonetisation.
“We are introducing Unified Payments Interface from December 1 across reservation counters. Passengers can go to the counter with their cellphones and get their reserved tickets,” Jamshed said.