Metro smart card minimum recharge doubled to Rs 200

Commuters have to shell out Rs 200 to recharge their smart cards starting Wednesday. The Delhi Metro has decided to double the minimum add value of its smart cards to Rs 200. But there will be no change in the fare.

“A new smart card will now cost Rs 150 including Rs 50 as refundable security deposit,” said the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in a statement on Sunday.

“Most of Delhi Metro’s smart card users are regular travellers and with the opening of Rapid metro and more corridors under phase 3, the footfall will increase. Therefore, increasing the minimum add value of the cards will help the commuters as they won’t have to stand in queue and recharge their cards time and again,” the DMRC said.

According to the DMRC, a passenger can recharge his smart card in multiples of 100 starting Rs 200 then Rs 300, Rs 400 up to Rs 1000 at a time. 

In case of an online recharge, the minimum add value amount will be Rs 100 and then multiples of 50 such as Rs 100 then Rs 150, Rs 200, Rs 250 up to Rs 1000. 

“About 12,000 smart cards are refunded every day, of which 9 per cent of cards are purchased and refunded on the same day. Similarly around 30 per cent smart cards are purchased and refunded within the same month. This has resulted in a pile up of 9 lakh smart cards to be refurbished at a cost to DMRC,” it added.

“Therefore, the administration charges for the refund of smart cards will be revised from Rs 5 to Rs 20. This measure has been taken to offset increase in cost of transaction and discourage the frequent refund of smart cards,” the DMRC said. The new measures will help in streamlining the refund system, it added.

The DMRC said that at present about 70 per cent of Delhi Metro travellers are smart card users, who are able to avail a discount of 10 per cent on all their journeys by the metro whenever they use smart cards.