London-style single card for train, metro, bus in city soon

MUMBAI: The city’s development authority is set to take a page out of London’s transport system to make travel between Mumbai and its surrounding areas much smoother.

MUMBAI: The city’s development authority is set to take a page out of London’s transport system to make travel between Mumbai and its surrounding areas much smoother.

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The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has appointed Transport For London (TFL) to prepare a detailed plan for an integrated ticketing system (ITS) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). TFL is a wing of the Greater London Authority. It is credited with the launch of the Oyster card, which works across the underground, overground rail networks, public buses and river transport in London.

The MMRDA has decided to execute its own ITS plans, simply called smart card, after the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) put its national smart card plan, under the National Urban Transport Policy, on hold.

The smart card will help commuters skip long queues at ticket counters and travel anywhere in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar, without using cash.

TFL is supposed to submit its report to the MMRDA in three months’ time. “Once the report is submitted, we will invite tenders for execution of the system. According to our estimation, the smart card system will be operational in 18 months’ time,” Khandare said. MMRDA additional commissioner Sanjay Khandare said TFL will study all aspects of the transport pattern in the region to come up with a workable and feasible plan.

“TFL is supposed to devise a common operating system for all transport modes in the region. In addition, it will have to identify locations for Automated Fare Collection (AFC) machines for smooth commuter transition from one mode to other,” Khandare said.

Also, smart card owners may be entitled to various kinds of discounts on shopping because MMRDA plans to tie up with some banks, Khandare said.

TFL is accredited with launching a local version of the smart card system in London successfully. The card, simply called Oyster, can be used to travel on bus, tram, metro, rail services, river bus in London, and book flights via Emirates Airlines.

Except Mumbai Metro One, all other public transport modes in the region have accorded their approval.

They include suburban railways, monorail add public bus services operated by civic agencies in cities such as Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Mira-Bhayandar.