Kalyan-Dombivli commuters can pay fares online from today

Commuters taking the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) ring route bus from Kalyan Station can pay their fares through online payment mode from Sunday morning.

Commuters taking the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) ring route bus from Kalyan Station can pay their fares through online payment mode from Sunday morning.

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The KDMT has digitalised bus fares for five ring route buses to avoid contact during ticketing. The service will be extended further on other routes.

“Changing the mode of payment from cash to digital is to avoid any contact between conductors and passengers, and curb the spread of Covid-19 infection. Since we have resumed buses within and outside the city limits, online payment service is a must,” said Milind Dhat, general manager, KDMT.

On Friday, the KDMT officials and committee members finalised on how the online payment would function by giving a demo of the online payment system.

“We will provide a uniform QR code to the conductors which the passengers can scan through online payment modes and make their payment,” added Dhat.

The KDMT, which was completely shut during the initial months of lockdown, has resumed services on 15 routes including Kalyan-Panvel and Dombivli-Vashi routes.

On Sunday, which marks Dussehra, the online payment mode will be inaugurated on one route, the Kalyan ring route that covers Kalyan station - Murbad Road - Birla College Road -Duragadi Chowk - Lal Chowki - Shivaji Chowk – Kalyan station. Later on, it will be enabled in all other routes.

“We are planning to increase the number of buses and its frequencies as there is a requirement due to the lockdown relaxations. In order to make sure there is no contact while making payment of fare, we decided to go digital,” added Dhat.

Sumit Patil, 29, who takes the KDMT bus from Kalyan to Panvel for work, said, “Paying the fare by cash is very risky as there will be some contact. Most of the passengers have smart phones and they can make the payment online. This is a good move by the transport body and should be imposed effectively.”

Presently, the KDMT has 137 buses out of which only 52 are running as many buses are to be repaired. Out of these 52, twenty are given to the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation for Covid duty. The rest are for common public.