If all gos well there is a possibility of a single mobility smart card for commuters by May 2017
Come May 2017 and there is a possibility of a single mobility card being made for Mumbai commuters across the travel mode as even the Central and Western Railways have agreed to join the 'Integrated Ticketing System' project being implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
"An in-principle approval has been given by the railways to join the integrated ticketing even for their suburban railway system ticketing," confirmed UPS Madan, Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA.
Currently, MMRDA is in the process of appointing a consultancy firm to implement the project after a year. The project will be rolled out in tie-up with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India. Apart from that the MMRDA officials are in dialogue with National Common Mobility Card, a division of Union Ministry of Urban Development, for project implementation.
Once the project is ready and smart cards issued, transport services like suburban railway, metro rail, monorail and BEST buses will come under one fold. Currently, there are different smart cards for each of these transport services.
On rolling out the common mobility card, initial or teething problems will be looked at and there may be a possibility to include auto rickshaw, taxi, pay-and-park as well as toll payments using the same smart card. However, that will be at a much later stage.
Globally, in several countries, there is a common card for multiple day-to-day requirements, be it commuting to banking to shopping. During the last decade, the Union government had made an attempt to come out with 'More', a common mobility card for the entire country, but was unsuccessful in rolling out the final product.
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