Delhi Metro smart cards to change colour; turn red, yellow, orange by December

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will roll out by mid-December smart cards printed in a completely new avatar and branded with the tagline — ‘One Delhi. One Ride’.

The blue smart cards of the Delhi Metro will soon be changed to bright hues of red, orange and yellow, state transport minister Kailash Gahlot said on Friday.

The new Delhi Metro cards will be available from mid-­December. Though the colours will change, the features of the card will remain same. (HT Photo)

In about two months, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will roll out smart cards printed in a completely new avatar and branded with the tagline — ‘One Delhi. One Ride’. The features of the new smart cards, however, are going to remain the same.

Data available with the DMRC suggests that of the 25 lakh riders who take the Delhi Metro daily, about 70% use smart cards. The smart cards are extremely popular among travellers and around 2 crore cards have been issued by the corporation since Delhi Metro’s launch in 2002.

“The newly designed cards will have a background of cubic grid in bright shades of red and yellow. It will also have a circular unit with sketches of Metro trains, DTC buses, cars and monuments around it. The existing cards only have a photograph of the Metro which is not what a common mobility card is meant for,” said Gahlot, adding the cards will be available at all Metro stations by mid-December.

The front end of the card will have ‘One Delhi. One Ride.’ printed on it along with the unique card number on the top right corner. The back end will have the logo of the Delhi government, DMRC and the Delhi Transport Corporation.

The transport minister, however, clarified that the new cards are not going to be different from the existing blue-coloured Metro smart cards. “The change was directed to the DMRC because usage of Metro cards in bus travel needed a push. Despite being launched in all 5,561 buses in Delhi on August 24, very few people are actually using Metro cards to pay for their bus rides,” he said

The DMRC said it has begun the project of printing the new cards. “The new lot of smart cards of Delhi Metro will be redesigned as per the modifications directed by the government of Delhi. We are already working on this,” said Anuj Dayal, executive director, corporate communication, DMRC.

The government, however, said implementing its proposal of offering 10% discount in bus rides for those who use Metro smart cards may take a while longer. “That will take a bit longer as it involves technical modification to the system. Approvals for the proposal is also awaited. So launching the discount offer along with the new cards looks highly unlikely,” a transport official said, on condition of anonymity.

The transport department is also working towards providing these new smart cards in inter-state bus terminals (ISBTs) and railway stations.