Bengaluru: Namma Metro commuters are realising that ‘smart cards’ need not always mean a hassle-free journey. Quite often they have to queue up while recharging their cards, due to shortage of PoS swiping machines at various stations.
In fact it has become a regular sight at many stations and these queues are longer and move at a slower pace than those buying regular tickets. Many smart card holders now feel they were better off buying tickets on a regular basis.
"I take a metro from Mysore Road to Indiranagar to reach my office in Jeevan Bima Nagar. Metro officials encourage us to buy smart cards to avoid queues. But I feel travelling with tickets is much better than smart cards because the entire station has only one PoS swiping machine. During peak hours it almost resembles a war-field," said Kiran Kumar K.L., a regular commuter.
BMRCL introduced smart cards to promote cashless transactions and hassle-free journey for commuters. They claim that 60 per cent of the commuters currently use metro cards for their daily commute.
Though smart cards were introduced to cut down queues, BMRCL has failed to gauge the demand for online recharges and supply adequate number of swipe machines at stations.
Asha Prabu, a daily user said, “They said that smart cards will be solution for standing in queue. But now it has been reversed, travelling with tickets will be much better. The main reason is because of the one PoS swiping machine. I have travelled in many other metros in the country and they have machine with touch screen based which does not need an operator and even accepts bank notes to recharge smart cards. So at least BMRCL can provide an online option.”
BMRCL Managing Director Ajay Seth conceded that the commuters were finding it difficult to recharge their smart cards and also welcomed the idea of introducing online system.
He told Deccan Chronicle, “We have received complaints regarding this issue and are working on it. It takes some time for us to introduce online payment because we need to discuss with banks. So immediate solution is to increase the number of swipe machine and also to allow recharge at Bangalore One centres.”
