Travel on Railways, metro, monorail, bus in Mumbai with 1 card soon; here is how

With the aim of having a multi-transport, single ticketing smart card in place in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) by year end, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Wednesday initiated the process of appointing a private company that will design the software and server for integrating the ticketing system for suburban railway, metro corridors, monorail and public bus transport system.

The private company will design the software and direct several public transport agencies to integrate their ticketing system accordingly, MMRDA officials said.

"The first bid floated by us on Wednesday is like the heart of the system. It will study everything and have a common server and system for various agencies, post which all agencies will be asked to integrate to the common server," said a MMRDA official.

According to MMRDA officials, once the software and common server is ready, appointment of Bank will be done. "The Bank will be the main link between the transport agencies. The role of a common Bank will be to transfer money of commuters to the respective Banks of transport agencies," the MMRDA official added.

The MMRDA aims to roll out the single ticketing system by year end, enabling the citizens to apply for the single ticketing smart card by making a payment of Rs 100, which will be a refundable security deposit.

The MMRDA officials added that the system is very complex when it comes to Mumbai, considering there are several transport agencies that operate different modes of transport compared to other countries like London, Hong Kong and China where there is a single agency operating all modes of transport.

The MMRDA and BEST officials had also visited London in 2017 to study the single ticket smart named 'Oyster Card', which is an electronic ticketing system used for travelling in London Tube, railway, trams, boats, along with the UK's national railway services.

NEW AND IMPROVED

• Several public transport agencies will be directed to integrate their ticketing system.   
• According to MMRDA officials, once the software and common server is ready, appointment of Bank will be done.   
• The role of a common Bank will be to transfer money of commuters to the respective Banks of transport agencies.   
• MMRDA official said that the system is very complex when it comes to Mumbai, considering there are several transport agencies that operate different modes of transport.