City govt launches common card for bus and Metro rides

New Delhi: Boarding a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus outside the Delhi secretariat with his Metro card, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the common mobility card scheme on Monday to aid seamless travel between the city’s bus transport and the Metro system. Transport minister Kailash Gahlot was present during the launch along with top government and DMRC officials.

Delhi is the first city in the country to have a common mobility card, which can be used in 200 DTC and 50 cluster buses plying on different routes at present apart from the Metro trains. The DTC buses of Raj Ghat depot-I and Rohini depot-I plying on different routes and those of cluster scheme’s BBM depot-II will have this facility as of now.

“It’s a big step in the transport sector that will facilitate seamless travel for people in Delhi,” Mr Kejriwal said after a short ride on a DTC bus on the occasion.

The card, which will function like a debit card, will be operational in all DTC and cluster buses from April 1. The city has around 3,900 DTC and over 1,600 cluster buses. Earlier, the Delhi government and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) agreed to authorise the Metro smart card to be used as a common mobility card for paying fares in DTC and cluster buses. The Reserve Bank of India gave approval to the DMRC in February 2017 for operating its pre-paid instrument called PPI-MTS (prepaid instrument – mass transit system) for this purpose. The DMRC smart card is the first to get authorisation under this category, said a government official.

The smart card will be tapped on the electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) available with bus conductors for payment of fares. The smart cards can be purchased from any Delhi Metro station. The common mobility cards will be made available at all the ISBTs, railway stations, and tourist information centres of the Delhi tourism department.