PANAJI:
Officials of the Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) and Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited may be forced to do a re-think on its 'smartcard mandatory' fiat for availing the intra-city e-bus service with footfalls plummeting.
Senior officials of KTCL, which is operating the e-bus services under the Smart City Mission, admitted that only the regular travellers have made the smartcards and digitally challenged senior citizens are another set of commuters who have abandoned travelling by these air-conditioned EV buses.
Launched in July last year, the e-buses operations were gaining traction in the city. In the first 90 days (three months) the service had 4.02 lakh ticketed footfalls.
Then the smartcards and the TuMoC app were launched, a concept aimed at making the EV bus service a conductor-less operation. Passengers would have to tap their smartcard as they enter the bus and then when alighting from it at their destination. They would then be charged by deducting an amount from their card based on the distance traveled.
In early January 2025, however, the smartcards were made mandatory and all cash transactions for tickets were abruptly halted, leading to confusion among passengers. The measure also saw tourists abandoning the use of these EV buses.
KTCL officials said, around 1,800 smart cards are currently live and operational on the Smart City Smart Transit EV bus routes and since January, 15,394 ticket bookings have been made through these cards.
Meanwhile, the option of UPI digital payment is also available on the EV-buses with the 'QR Code' available with the bus driver.
