20,000 tickets issued on Delhi buses in trial run of e-ticketing system

Around 20,000 tickets have been issued to passengers on Delhi buses on select routes, as part of the ongoing trial run of the new contactless ticketing system, transport

Around 20,000 tickets have been issued to passengers on Delhi buses on select routes, as part of the ongoing trial run of the new contactless ticketing system, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said Friday.

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The minister reviewed the trial run of the new system Friday by hopping on to a cluster (orange) bus and purchasing a ticket through the phone application ‘Chartr’. This is the second phase of trials being undertaken by the state transport department to introduce contactless ticketing on each of its over 6,600 buses.

“Now that we’ve increased Covid-19 testing and are witnessing another spike in cases, an app-based contactless ticketing is crucial in minimising person-to-person and surface contact. The second phase trial of the e-ticketing app was started on 332 cluster buses on 14 routes earlier this week. The trial will also be extended to 29 DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) buses on Route Number 534. So far, around 20,000 tickets have been issued through the app, of which more than 75% are pink tickets for female passengers,” Gahlot said.

He added that passengers can now buy up to three tickets for a journey. Female passengers can now book a single ticket for their entire journey. Women are allowed free rides on Delhi buses.

Gahlot along with the officials from the transport department conducted a real-time inspection of the app on a cluster bus on Route Number 429, and used the app to purchase the ticket.

“I’m extremely happy to note that, within five days of starting the trial, 6% of the total ticketing on the selected routes are being done through the app now. It is particularly encouraging to see the response from female passengers, who account for more than 75% of the total tickets issued through this app,” the minister said.