An integrated ticketing system, by which commuters in Mumbai can use a single smart card to travel on all forms of transport is in the works and is expected to be in place in the next two years, before two Metro lines come up in the city.
“In the next two years, before the Metro corridors are commissioned, there will be a single card system. Our consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is already working on this. It will be a smart card system that can be used for all forms of transport. BEST and Railways have agreed to come together and I expect that private cab operators and aggregators should also join this system by which they can extend it to parking, toll management and toll payments,” said PRK Murthy, Director (Projects), Metro PIU, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) at a session on Smart Mobility at the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) Annual Convention.
The MMRDA also plans to improve accessibility to Metro and suburban stations. “There will be online display at stations informing which bus is likely to come at what time,” he added. Speaking about multi-modal integration, he said, “It is a part of the project component and consultants are working on finalising the plans based on international expertise. There will be good footpaths, signages, parking systems and pick up facility for autos and cabs near the Metro stations.”
MMRDA proposes to complete 230 km of Metro corridor in the city in the next five years. “This will supplement the existing 300-km of suburban railway corridors. The Metro will carry 7 million people, which is equivalent to the suburban trains which carry around 6.8-7 million people today. So we are just going to double the capacity of the entire system,” he added. Of this the first two Metro lines – Metro 2A and 7 – totalling around 34 km in length, is proposed to be completed by mid-2019.