HYDERABAD: It seems there are just over three months left before Telanganites can swipe the same card for travelling in both a bus and the Metro. With Telangana’s IT department said to be in the process of finalising the bids as to who will implement the project across the State, it seems the ‘One Telangana Card’ will soon be a reality.
What is more, the State plans to expand the service so that a commuter will soon be able to use the same card for travelling in autos, MMTS trains, and also cabs. This means that one card will eliminate both different cards for different transport modes and also hassles of paying in cash.
According to officials, the card will further convert all modes of travel services into cashless transactions with just the use of one card. The user can either ‘Swipe’ or ‘Tap’ this card on a ‘Near Field Communication’ or a QR code facility to make the payment for a trip.
The card will come fitted with a chip which will use the holder’s mobile number, in order to send the OTP when registering a card. The card will be of pre-stored value or prepaid and will have to be topped up regularly. Once registered, the commuter can avail services similar to those provided by the Metro card, but across different modes of travel.
So in order to travel in an RTC bus, the commuter will inform the conductor of their destination and get the incurred fare. Then the card would be used on a Point of Sale or (POS) handheld device available with the conductor to make the transaction. An estimated 4,585 number of POS devices will be supplied to TSRTC conductors in the city alone.
In Metro, the system will be similar to how the existing card works, apart from some technical changes for the new card.
In the first phase of this over Rs 35-crore project, the card will only be useful for commuting on the Metro and TSRTC buses. It will gradually be extended to cab services wherein the cab driver will have to install an app given by the service provider to scan the QR code exclusive to each commuter’s card.
For MMTS, it has been learnt, that permission from the Railway Board is yet to come in for the same.
However, officials are optimistic that the system will include all modes of transport on a single platform.
For a project as ambitious as this one, it is crucial that people switch to the card from traditional cash formats. This is expected to take a while, especially in the rural pockets of the city and State. Officials are expecting a conversion rate of 50 per cent in the first year for Metro, 30 per cent for TSRTC buses in the city and 5 per cent for buses across the State.
Highlights of OTOC project
The top-up amount that will be recharged into the OTOC is one of Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500 or Rs 2,000. Recharge can be done via app, website, vendor or self-help kiosks which are set to come up in malls, bus depots etc Helpdesk will also be set up to address grievances