Your metro card will now act as a ‘common mobility card’, with the help of which you can pay for all bus rides in Delhi. How you ask? Well, all you got to do is swipe your metro card to pay for bus rides.

The Delhi Government announced the move earlier this week, which would be applicable from today onwards. The move makes a change between the two primary modes of public transport an easier affair.

As per the data provided by the government, the average daily ridership of public buses in Delhi is more than that of Delhi metro. If we talk numbers, close to 35 lakh riders take a bus as compared to 26 lakh riders of the metro.

metro card to pay for bus rides
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot announced the move earlier this week

Thus, amalgamating the two transport systems makes a lot of sense.

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot was quoted by the Hindustan Times saying,

“The common mobility card project is vital to integrate the city’s two biggest public transport systems.”

The government will now start advertising campaigns to let people know of the e-payment service in all DTC and cluster buses of Delhi.

How It Works

In order to use the metro card to pay for bus rides, a passenger will have to provide his or her metro card to the bus conductor.

The conductor would press the ‘7’ button in order to activate the option to deduct the fare from the metro card. Once the option is enabled, the conductor can swipe the metro card and the fare would automatically be deducted from the card.

Metro Card To Pay For Bus Rides
The electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) of the conductors need to be calibrate

This facility is made available with the help of secure access module (SAM) chips that are fitted in the electronic ticketing machine (ETM) which the bus conductors in Delhi use.

The SAM chip makes the e-payment of bus fare possible.


Also Read: Delhi Metro: Time For Some Relief For The Students And The Elderly?


Move Comes After 5-Month Delay

In January this year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that electronic payment of fares through metro cards would be possible in all 5,500 buses of Delhi by April 1, 2018.

However, the deadline could not be met and was pushed to the end of April due to the unavailability of secure access module (SAM) chips, which were being procured from South Korea.

metro card to pay for bus rides
Delhi Metro’s smart card will now act as a ‘common mobility card’

The arrival of these chips from South Korea led to further delay in the project. Once the chips arrived, the ETMs needed to be calibrated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Apparently, the Nirav Modi scam also contributed to the delay as RBI made a few changes in its rules which delayed the payment to be made to the South Korean vendor, who provided the chips.

This ‘common mobility card’ project isn’t a brainchild of the Aam Aadmi Party, unlike what many seem to suggest.

This project was proposed during the Commonwealth Games in 2010. However, due to financial reasons, the project was scrapped.’

metro card to pay for bus rides
Delhi’s public transport system has really grown in the last few years

The Aam Aadmi Party, however, does have plans to improve the bus service in Delhi. Close to 3,000 new buses will be bought by the end of this year.

Plans to install CCTV cameras and Wi-Fi service are also in place for the existing 3,900 DTC buses and 1,600 cluster buses as well as the new buses.

With public transport system in Delhi strengthening itself, you can actually consider ditching your personal vehicle for public transport. After all, your personal vehicle isn’t really helping Delhi fight its insanely high levels of pollution.


Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Hindustan Times, NDTV, Times Of India + more


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