A visit to Delhi is incomplete
without a Metro ride. With a network
spanning over 200 kms and growing every quarter, the metro is a boon for delhities.
The network has gone beyond the boundaries
of Delhi to reach NOIDA and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon in Haryana.
The average number of passengers
ferried by Delhi Metro is 28,00,000 per day. On holidays and festival days, the
average number goes up by another 1-2lacs.
The lifeline of the Delhi Metro
finances is its tickets collections. Apart from tickets the other sources of
income are permits for film shooting in its stations/trains, advertisements and
vendor outlets.
The fare rates range from INR8 to
INR42. This means either the commuter or
the ticket issuance staff should compulsory have currency coins to complete the
ticket transaction.
The main challenge is collect the ticket fares
with minimum fuss at the ticket issuance counters.
Ticket purchase Choices for Delhi Metro
commuters: -
01) RFID Tokens:- Valid for single journey on
the day of purchase. The RFID Token has
to be purchased by the commuter before beginning the journey at the Metro
ticket counter. Basing on the destination station, the ticket fare is loaded
into the RFID token. Entry to the travel area at the originating station is by
display of the RFID token at the electronic turnstile. Exit at the destination
station is by dropping the RFID token at the designated slot at the electronic
turnstile.
02)Tourist Cards: Two
types of tourist cards are available. One Day tourist card costing INR 150.
Three day tourist card costing INR300. These cards are suitable for unlimited
travel for 1day or 3 days depending on the amount loaded into the tourist card.
03)Travel Cards: Valid for one year from the purchase date and is
the preferred mode for frequent commuters. Minimum recharge of INR 100 is mandatory with
a maximum recharge of INR1000/-. As the ticket fare is pre-funded, 10% discount
is offered on all the trips made on this travel card.
At present, 70% of the
commuters prefer travel cards either the tourist card or the normal travel card.
One
drawback in the tourist cards is the INR50 refundable deposit. This discourages
tourists from opting for tourist cards.
The
70% figure has been achieved by consistent encouragement by Delhi Metro Staff
to the commuters and it has been stagnant for quite some time now.
The
chief stress point for the Metro ticketing staff is the coins shortage at their
counters.
On an average every day, Metro
faces a shortfall of around "3 lakh coins". There are situations where passengers often
forgo the change amount, leading to many of them lashing out at the staff.
After
multiple brain storming sessions, Delhi
Metro on Sunday (22/02/2015) set up an
"exact change counters" across 20 busiest stations on its network to
curtail queuing or waiting time for passengers.
As the name connotes, at these
‘exact change counters’, only those passengers who tender exact change can buy
tokens.
"This will avoid any
queuing or waiting time for passengers as they won't have to wait for return
change after buying the tokens," a DMRC official said.
The stations where these
counters have been made operational are - New Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Rajiv
Chowk, Anand Vihar, Shahdara, HUDA City Centre, Jahangirpuri, Uttam Nagar East,
Saket, Dilshad Garden, Kashmere Gate, Badarpur, AIIMS, Vaishali, Karol Bagh,
Seelampur, M G Road, Noida City Centre, R K Ashram and Dwarka Mor.
At the same time to encourage
the remaining 30% commuters to switch to CashLess mode, DMRC has also installed
'Point of Sale' (POS) machines at its 73 stations including all stations of the
Airport Express Line to facilitate cashless transaction for passengers who wish
to recharge their smart cards by using credit or debit cards.
"These machines are
available at 'Customer Care Centre' of those stations and passengers can get
their smart cards recharged by using their credit/debit cards thus eliminating
the need for carrying cash to the counter all the time.
