Commuters increasingly buying tickets via app

After receiving a tepid response from commuters initially, the ‘UTS on mobile’ ticketing application has slowly gained ground with data over the past seven months showing that people are finally getting used it. Introduced in October last year, the app did not catch the common man’s fancy until after January this year when the number of commuters turning to it started rising.

According to railway officials, initial response is always slow when something is launched. However, the recent surge in the number of commuters using the app is because of word-of-mouth, they believe.

The data reveals that from just 715 passengers renewing their monthly second class passes, the number jumped to 926 in January 2016, 966 in February, and almost 2,000 in both March and April.

A similar increase was seen in the number of monthly first class passes from just 395 in October last year to 701 in April this year.

“You must remember that these numbers are still very low because 75 per cent of pass holders on both Central and Western railway translate into 35 lakh and 28 lakh, respectively, who are yet to switch to buying the passes using the app. So, we still have a huge margin to attain,” said a railway official on condition of anonymity.

Both Central and Western Railway have been trying to get more commuters to switch over to the app but have been meeting with resistance, as many commuters are still uncertain about using the app. “There is resistance to it because many people are still not sure if it will work or feel that if the network goes, they will have to pay a fine and, if there is no range, you will have to wait and reboot. But the application will work 100 per cent,” the official added.