Buses, Metro to have Common Mobility Card in Delhi; State govt invites tenders for it

New Delhi [India], January 8 (ANI): Delhi Government on Sunday issued a notice inviting an e-Tender to provide National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) compliant digital ticketing solutions across all its Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) operated buses.
The NCMC-compliant digital ticketing solution will enable public transport in Delhi, beginning with buses, to move away from manual ticketing.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently flagged off 50 new Electric buses taking the total number of buses running in the city to 7,379. In 2022, the uptake of buses has increased each month with more than 12 crore ridership in December 2022. It means, on average 40 lakh people travel in buses daily. It is of utmost importance that a record of each trip is maintained for better planning of the number of buses across 500+ bus routes in Delhi.
The digital ticketing solution is also part of the Route Rationalisation study conducted by the Transport department whose pilot phase is in progress since October 2022.
The Tender floated by the Transport department includes the supply and operation of Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs) for 7,500 buses in Phase 1. In addition, it also includes the provision of Smart cards or NCMC cards for buying the tickets rather than paying in cash. Further, a feature of the mobile app to enable buying of Online tickets and concessional daily or monthly passes has also been included to be provided by the bidder.
This is a complete Digital solution to remove any chances of pilferages in the process. The ETM machine will also be issuing Pink tickets, enabling women to travel for free to their destination. The details of the tender can be found on the e-procurement portal of the Government of NCT of Delhi at https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in. The last date for submitting the bid is 20th Feb 2023.
The NCMC cards facilitate multi-modal transit offline payment. The vision of the Delhi government is to have a connected network of transport in the city. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) airport line is already NCMC compliant while the rest of the lines are on target to be NCMC compliant by June 2023. It means the commuters will be able to buy their bus tickets and also use the same card to buy the Delhi Metro Rail journey ticket. More and more Transit options will be added in the coming years to make travel more convenient.
Currently, thousands of people have been using the 'One Delhi' app to buy their bus tickets and daily pass online. It was launched in Nov 2022.
In a statement, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, "We wanted to totally move away with the current manual ticketing where the origin and destination are not being captured at all. Delhi wants to enable a system for the commuters to even know if the next bus coming is 100% full or party crowded along with tracking of buses at the bus stop to know their exact waiting time. In addition, the NCMC-enabled solution will help them to use the same card for multi-modal transit systems starting with buses and Metro Rail. The idea is to grow this to all modes of public transport in the city making Delhi a world-class city." (ANI)