PANAJI
The Kadamba Transport Corporation will discontinue its monthly paper passes and replace them with smart e-transit cards which will be mandatory from August 1.
A senior KTC official said the paper passes are being phased out as a measure to plug revenue transactions and henceforth all fare transactions will only be accepted via the smart card.
The monthly pass facility had been introduced by the KTC to improve efficiency in the case of regular commuters who use the same route every day. A monthly discounted fare was charged for the pass which had dates of the days of the month printed on it and the bus-conductor would strike off after every journey.
With the decision to introduce an e-transit smart card and make it mandatory from August 1, these regular commuters will now have to procure the e-transit smart cards with a concept similar to the one governed by the paper pass system, albeit 100 per cent digital.
The e-transit cards are being issued through the KTC's website but as is common with almost all government portals, visitors are facing glitches and difficulties in making the transactions.
A couple of passengers also told The Goan that the e-transit card will only be permitted to be used for journeys which begin at the start point and end at the final destination.
If you take the bus at any point in the middle of the journey, the e-transit card cannot be used and the fare will have to be paid separately.
According to the KTC official, the e-transit card will provide transparency and passengers will be able to use it only on a route-specific basis.
"Once the day’s journey is swiped, the passenger will not be able to use it again on a repeat journey the same day. This will help plug leakages as with the paper pass, they used to utilize it for multiple journeys on the same day," the official said.
