DTC: E-ticket machines in 200 buses January end

Much-awaited electronic ticketing machines will be installed in 200 Delhi Transport Corporation buses by the end of this month. The project will be kicked off with 200 buses initially and then will be expanded to the rest of the fleet.

In the first phase of the project, 200 buses of Rajghat and Rohini bus depots will be equipped with ETMs by the end of January. Thereafter, the facility will be introduced in the rest of the DTC fleet by June.

At present, there are 4,500 buses plying in the national capital and of which, 3,775 are low-floor buses, including about 1,275 air-conditioned ones.

“DTC will install ETMs in 100 buses of Rohini depot and Rajghat depot each in the first phase. In some buses, conductors have started charging fares from passengers through ETMs on a trial basis,” DTC spokesperson R.S. Minhas said.

He added that by the end of June, all DTC buses will have e-ticketing machines. Thereafter, all buses with ETMs will move towards common mobility card through which one can travel in DTC buses and Delhi Metro.

“Once ETMs are installed in all DTC buses, we will move towards common mobility cards for travelling in both DTC and Metro, which will be done on priority basis,” Mr Minhas said.

City transport minister Gopal Rai had recently said that the government would soon launch common mobility card for DTC and Metro. Common mobility card had been proposed in 2010 during the Commonwealth Games, but due to financial reasons, the project did not take off.

According to DTC, talks on this project are going on and it wants this project to be implemented as soon as possible for giving better facilities to its passengers.