Common payment system for all modes of transport proposed in Hyderabad

The third meeting of the Task Force Committee constituted for improvement of Transport facilities in Telangana State was conducted in TSRTC Bus Bhavan here on Monday.

Principal Secretary to Government (TR&B Department) Sunil Sharma, Hyderabad Metro Rail Managing Director NVS Reddy and senior officials of TSRTC, L&T Metro Rail and State Bank of India; representatives of OLA, Uber and Auto Unions attended the meeting.

The Principal Secretary stressed the need for having a common payment system for all the modes of transport in Hyderabad City viz. TSRTC, Metro Rail, MMTS, Ola/Uber and Autos for the convenience of the commuters and to encourage the use of Public Transport.

During the meeting it has been informed that L&T Metro Rail have issued Letter of Award of contract for implementation of Open Loop NCMC based Smart Card ticketing system for Hyderabad Metro Rail to State Bank of India.

Officials of State Bank of India have given a Demo of the devices they propose for utilization by TSRTC for implementation of Open Loop NCMC based Smart Card ticketing system which would be interoperable with Metro Rail and other modes of transport in Hyderabad City. They have explained the salient features of the system.

The MD of TSRTC advised to discuss and sort out further technical issues and commercial issues so as to make the system available to commuters of Hyderabad as early as possible.

The Auto Union represented by Amanullah Khan welcomed the proposal and agreed to extend all support for implementation of System.

The Salient feature of the system would be the issue of NCMC based open loop cards with stored value, which can be used in all modes of transport in Hyderabad City. Based on the mode of transport used, the fare amount would be settled to the account of the respective organization (TSRTC/Metro Rail/MMTS)/individual (driver in the case of Autos, Ola/Uber).