Metro card can soon be used for bus rides in city

NEW DELHI: Come October, you will be able to use your Delhi Metro smart-card to travel cash-less in city buses, easing last-mile connectivity, a problem that has

NEW DELHI: Come October, you will be able to use your Delhi Metro smart-card to travel cash-less in city buses, easing last-mile connectivity, a problem that has dogged the Capital’s transport system for years.

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The Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) hasconducted the first successful transaction using a Delhi metro smartcard in an electronic ticketing machine (ETM) installed inside a city bus.

“It is likely that in next two months, users of public transport in Delhi will be able to use a common mobility card in buses as well as the Metro,” said RS Minhas, DTC spokesperson.

Officials say 70% of the DTC fleet already has ETMs installed and the rest should have it by mid-October, when the integrated travel scheme is likely to be launched.

Once operational, the scheme will cover 4,000 DTC buses and 1,100 orange cluster buses that are run under a private-public arrangement.

“The idea is to have a prepaid service where people using any public transport will not have to use cash and can pay through one card,” said a government official.