Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will submit the first draft of its plan related to the Integrated Ticketing System (ITS) in November. The draft will have inputs from all three major public transport systems in the city, with railways having the biggest share. But railways authorities have said it will take at least another four years for the ITS to be completely synchronised with other modes of transport, like the BEST and the Metro due to the size of the networks involved.
Officials are looking into the Quick Response (QR) system and smart cards in order to make it user-friendly. According to a rail official, “If this was done, say in the 70s, 80s or even the 90s, we would have been able to do it faster as the number of train services and buses were limited during that time and the reach of the networks too was limited.”
The smart card would be used via the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines already placed on each station or a QR code at each station would be provided, and commuters will have to scan the code to check in their location and tap on the destination.
The card will also act as a pass for those who travel on a fixed route daily. Almost 70 per cent of the roughly 80 lakh commuters per day use a railway pass to commute.
