Travelling in the city gets easier with MORE cards

Smart approach

Travel in the city via Metro and feeder buses will get easier as smart cards at Metro stations will soon be replaced with MORE cards, a common mobility cards, launched by the DMRC on Saturday.

Sudhir Krishna, chairman of DMRC and secretary, ministry of urban development, said they plan to make it a national mobility card soon.

“We aim to free people from buying different cards for different forms of road transportation. Commuters will soon be able to use a single card for Metro, feeder buses, buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation, taxis and even parking lots,” he said.

The urban development ministry had announced this initiative in December 2011.
The card can used by Delhi commuters for Metro and 10 DMRC-run feeder buses on route number 5 and 56 which covers areas like Shastri Park Metro station to Mayur Vihar phase 3 via Akshardham, Noida link road, Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Vasundhara Enclave.

“Even existing smart card users can avail these facilities as the existing cards will automatically be converted into the new MORE cards," said Mangu Singh, Delhi Metro chief.

Singh added that they have also planned to link this card to the Rapid Metro which will be linked to the Sikanderpur Metro station.

“This will help commuters interchange at Sikanderpur station without purchasing a new card or token,” he said.

DMRC is also negotiating with DTC, Delhi integrated multimodal system and the city government to pass the proposal to use these cards across all forms of transportation in the Capital.

“We are also planning to speak with states and metro cities to convert this into a national mobility card. Once approved, commuters will be able to use this card across metro operations in Bangalore, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chennai and others. This is the first of its kind initiative across India and even the southeastern region,” said Krishna.

Krishna said the development of a software and hardware was a big challenge which delayed the project.

DMRC is also negotiating with banks which will help commuters get their cards recharged automatically at the AFC gates.

“Machines will also be installed by the end of this year at the Metro stations through which the commuters will be able to recharge their cards with the help of credit and debit cards,” said Krishna.

Close to 65 per cent of the 18 lakh Delhi Metro commuters use smart cards. About 3,000 commuters travel everyday by metro feeder buses ML5 and 56.