Integrated Ticketing System

By Accommodation Times (www.accommodationtimes.com)

More than 25 companies respond to pre-qualification meet, Smart-Cards will be made available over the counter

Mumbai – More than 25 companies responded to the pre-qualification meet for the introduction of Integrated Ticketing System (ITS), which will change the way Mumbaikars travel today. The system will commonly serve BEST buses, Metro and Mono Rails for the convenience of the commuters in Mumbai as also its Metropolitan Region. The Integrated Ticketing system will also be applied to Bus service in metropolitan region.
There are about 12 million commuters in the city and the metropolitan region – 5.7 mn bus commuters and more than 6 million railway commuters. BEST serves 4.5 mn commuters in Mumbai, Thane Municipal Transport and Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport serve 0.2 mn. Commuters, Kalyan-Dombivli and Mira-Bhayendar Municipal Transport carry 0.1 mn commuters daily. While the Metro rail is expected to ferry 0.5 mn commuters the Mono Rail is expected to provide comfort to 0.1 mn commuters. One of the participant companies requested to add Maharashtra State Road Transport to the list drawn up.
The MMRDA officials said that the Integrated Ticketing System is expected to reduce the burden from all the ticketing windows as the SmartCards will be made available over the counter throughout the city and its metropolitan region.
The MMRDA will respond to all the queries raised in the meeting by January 20, 2012. The last date for submission of pre-qualification applications is February 10, 2012.