MTC to introduce automatic fare collection system soon: Alby John Varghese

CHENNAI: MTC is likely to introduce an automated fare collection system allowing passengers to pay their ticket fare through digital payments in a month, said its Managing Director Alby John Varghese.

"We are in a very advanced stage of implementing the Automatic Fare System. We should be able to implement it in a short time. Probably, within a month or so," MTC MD said at the launch of the report on an analysis of TN's fare-free bus scheme for women by the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group here.

He said that they had already completed the pilot for the automatic payment system through the handheld electronic ticketing machine. Passengers would be allowed to pay through UPI, Credit or Debit cards, and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC).

Under KfW funded the Climate Friendly Modernisation of Buses project, MTC would be procuring 8000 ETMs along with a backend automatic fare control system for all its 33 depots.

To a question on the collection of data on passengers' patronage using modern technologies, he said that an automated payment system implementation would make available data on which places have more patronage and which are the two points between where there is more demand for a particular type of bus services.

He said that physically collecting such data takes a lot of effort.

"Currently, we have some data but the problem is that it is spread across the entire day," he said.

On the footboard travel by students, he said that MTC has decided to install doors on all the buses. "So far we have fixed doors on 300 buses. We will be fixing doors in the remaining 600 buses as well," he said.

He added that the drivers and conductors were instructed to stop the buses if the students travelled on the footboard.

"If they did not listen, they should seek the police assistance," he said.

To a query on issues with the Chennai Bus App, he said that they have started installing onboard units with high-quality GPS on all the buses.

"The pilot is also going to start soon. With this onboard unit and better capability GPS, we are also coming out with a new customer APP. These things will improve the customer experience," he said.