Hyderabad Metro to issue monthly passes by December

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited will make monthly passes available for its regular commuters by December. HMRL has directed L&T to provide suitable options and rates for the monthly passes. This pass will also be part of the common mobility card which will be integrated with the RTC and other transport services.

HMRL managing director N.V.S. Reddy said, “We are working on a monthly pass and it should be feasible. We will try to make a combined pass for both the Metro and RTC. Iinitially the smart card will continue as the Metro Raill pass. We requested L&T to take a call and come up with a scheme as early as possible.”

For easy switching between Metro Rail, RTC buses and other modes, L&THMR will be coming out with a common ticketing mechanism. L&T Metro Rail has signed a contract with the State Bank of India to introduce common mobility cards.

During the task force committee meeting setup for transport facilities, a demonstration of devices that Metro Rail and RTC can use to implement the smart card ticketing system was done in August. 

This is not just restricted to public transport but also private players including Uber and Ola.

Mr Reddy confirmed that by December a solution was possible related to implementation of smart cards.

This could be a humongous task as Chennai Metro has made futile attempts in creating one. It took Chennai Metro nearly five years to come out with a solution, which reportedly will be implemented soon. The card purportedly is for only the Metro Rial and RTC services.

In Bengaluru's Namma Metro is still in preliminary discussions to implement a common card. 

Delhi Metro at the beginning of this year initiated a pilot project by launching a common card for its services and buses. 

Nobody has tried integrating it with private cab services.

Mr Reddy said they had prioritised works on the monthly pass as the new LB Bagar-Ameerpet corridor saw fewer joy riders and more employees and students.

He said, “The new line is as per the ridership we anticipated with regular commuters. There were joy riders only on holidays. There is a philosophy to this project – to let women travel on their own, which is happening now. It will keep picking up. As we keep solving these last mile connectivity problems, traffic will pick up and then we will keep on increasing the frequency of trains.”