New Delhi:
Soon Delhi Metro commuters will be able to avoid standing in the queue for recharging their smart cards with authorities planning to introduce refilling facility at the automatic fare collection gates. As part of its efforts to provide cashless transactions to commuters, the Delhi Metro is also mulling to allow recharge of smart cards through net banking and credit and debit cards.
To reduce the queue at stations and to allow free movement, the Delhi Metro is procuring AFC gates with new technologies which will have the capacity of automatic top up of smart cards through the bank accounts of card holders via electronic clearance system (ECS).
"By availing this facility, when the balance of a smart card goes down to the pre-defined value or the minimum amount, the specific AFC gates will add pre-defined amount into the card automatically," DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said.
He said the deducted amount will be collected from the card holder's bank account by the Metro fare collection system.
This system is aimed at not only reducing cash transactions at the ticket counters, but also help commuters to avoid long queues for the recharge of their cards. On the recharge of smart card through credit and debit cards, Dayal said a new technology is being developed to provide DMRC commuters this facility.
"The DMRC is currently working on the finalisation of the technologies which will be used for this facility. It is expected that this facility will be made available to the commuters in another seven to eight months," he said.
At present, tokens and smart cards can be purchased or recharged only by paying cash at the specified counters, machines or customer care centres at Metro stations.
More than 61 lakh Metro Smart cards have been sold since the Metro came into existence nine years ago and about 12,000 smart cards are being sold each day from the Metro stations.