As ridership goes up, metro scrambles for smart cards

As metro ridership climbed steadily post-lockdown, authorities struggled to meet the demand for smart cards, which is the only means of paying the travel fare after tokens were banned in the wake of Covid-19.

As per the standard operating procedure, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has taken steps to avoid social contacts by making smart cards mandatory for all travellers and barred cash transactions even for recharging the smart cards.

Ever since the metro operations resumed in September, the daily ridership in BMRCL has been climbing steadily, clocking up 50,000 in the initial months to reaching 1.6 lakh in early March.

The demand for smart cards has gone up at the two stations in Majestic and in terminal stations, especially at Mysuru Road and Nagasandra. At the Kempegowda metro station, the demand has gone up from 600 cards in the pre-pandemic days to over 1,000 in recent days, sources in the BMRCL said.

On Monday, three passengers in at least two metro stations had to wait for the staff to bring the smart cards from the adjacent stations. “Earlier, each metro station used to have a stock of at least 1,000 cards. But the supply has come down over the last two weeks,” a source said.

“This has resulted in last-minute adjustments between station controllers who are trying to fulfil the passenger demand amid the shortage.” BMRCL Managing Director Ajay Seth, however, said there was no shortage any more.

“We have started getting the supplies of another 3 lakh cards that were ordered about three weeks ago under the old contract. We also placed an order for another 9 lakh cards a few days ago under a new contract. Those supplies will start by the fourth week of April,” he said.

Paper tickets

The shortage of smart cards prompted some officials to look for alternatives. “Paper tickets, which entail marking a passenger’s boarding and destination station on a paper, were considered. Staff at Nagasandra were told to be on standby.”

“However, the proposal was rejected by the higher-ups as paper tickets lead to social contact. The idea of resuming the token system was also shot down,” the source said.