DTC to start charging fare through e-ticketing machines

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will start charging fare from passengers travelling on its buses through e-ticketing machines in the national Capital from this month. The corporation has also planned to introduce common mobility cards by 2016, which will allow passengers to use both DTC buses and Metro 

trains.

The project, first mooted in 2010, is expected to plug out holes in DTC’s existing revenue collection 

system. It will also be the first step towards an automated fare collection system that would include Delhi Metro and other forms of public transport. “From November, the DTC will start charging fare through ETMs and by April next year, all corporation’s buses will come under the project,” DTC’s spokesperson RS Minhas said.

Minhas said after installing ETMs in all buses in the next six months, the corporation would move towards common mobility cards. “A company has been chosen for providing ETMs for DTC buses. Fare collection will be done through such a device on the lines of cluster buses,” he said. A common mobility card was proposed in 2010, during the Commonwealth Games, but failed to take off due to differences over revenue sharing. DTC has already decided to install CCTV cameras and provide Wi-Fi facility to commuters travelling in its buses by December this year.