Coming soon: One card for BEST buses, Metro lines in Mumbai

Paytm smart card recharge facility is already available in Mumbai

With more digital buses being introduced, the BEST undertaking is strengthening its digital footprint in the city by introducing common ticketing options for it and the Metro. After the success of Chalo, the BEST undertaking is set to launch the Paytm transit card, which will work on Metro lines and BEST buses, in March.

The new electric AC double decker bus was launched on Tuesday and is 100 per cent digital with no paper tickets issued onboard. The increase of these digital options will be a boon to commuters. "The PayTM transit card is in final stages of preparations and will be launched in March," BEST General Manager Lokesh Chandra said.

Sources said the PayTM smart card recharge facility is available to commuters of Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Now the BEST undertaking will be the latest addition. Under the initiative, BEST offers the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) an interoperable physical mobility card, which drives the government's One Nation, One Card initiative.

The BEST is strengthening its digital footprint in the city by introducing such tickets. File pic/Shadab Khan

The card can also be used for paying parking charges and at toll plazas. Officials said all recharges and transactions can be tracked online as the prepaid card is directly linked to the Paytm Wallet. Users can just top-up the wallet to use the transit card and don't have to create any separate account. This will enable commuters to have integrated access to all public transport, and they need not carry/purchase multiple cards for different usage.

Also Read: Mumbai: BEST's new AC electric double decker launched, will cover heritage tour, know details

"We should have one common card for all public transport modes in Mumbai - trains, Metro, BEST - like the Oyster card in London. It should also include taxis and autos," AV Shenoy, senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum and Mumbai Vikas Samiti said.

"The Chalo app has been quite successful in BEST buses. Besides live-tracking buses, it is also used to book seats in premium buses and is available in non-NCMC and NCMC versions. The new PayTM card will give a further push to digital ticketing," said bus fan Ravindra Devrukhkar.

Chalo NCMC on Metro

The Chalo NCMC card, which had been facing some glitches of acceptability on Metro lines, has also been fixed. The ticket counters of Mumbai Metro's two new lines had initially refused to accept the Chalo NCMC cards citing banking issues and issued their own Metro 1 SBI cards.

Double trouble

Commuters have flagged design issues in the new electric double decker bus. "The bus needs to be improved ergonomically. The seats slope, the head hits the roof when ascending from the top deck, the handles are not in the right place, and the edges in some interiors hurt. The upper deck does not have a fire exit," a commuter said. A few more flaws include front seats on the lower deck that are too close to the staircase, staircase side railings are too low and of course, less headroom while ascending with not enough cushion cover. BEST General Manager Lokesh Chandra has assured that there will be improvements in the subsequent buses.