Cabinet nod for common mobility card

Soon, you will be able to travel on different modes of public transport — metro and low floor buses — using a common mobility card.

Soon, you will be able to travel on different modes of public transport — metro and low floor buses — using a common mobility card.

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On Tuesday, the Empowered Committee headed by cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar approved the urban development ministry's proposal to introduce a common mobility card across different modes of public transport and operators.

To start with the smart card will be introduced in the national Capital and subsequently it will be extended to other states, which have public transport such as the metro and low floor buses. In fact, the committee has made introduction of the common mobility card as one of the pre requisite for states undertaking various reforms in the field of urban transport - such as getting sanctions for metro projects.

The card will provide seamless connectivity while using public transport. The concept of single ticket over all systems of public transport has also been envisaged in the National Urban Transport Policy.

At a later stage the card would be extended to taxis. The card would be issued by the urban development ministry through a well-structured public-private partnership model. "It will be possible to buy inter city travel tickets and utility items as well not only in one city but all cities in India," said a ministry official.

The idea, a ministry officials said, is to use smart card technology as the solution to provide a common ticket across different operators of the same and different modes and take an integrated approach for convenience of the common man.

The funding for the project would be shared by Centre, state government and the operators.

The panel has also approved a proposal to set up a dedicated urban transport fund at state level to maintain the public transport system.