CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): In an effort to reduce time spent buying tickets or recharging smart cards, the Chennai Metro Rail is planning to introduce a line of watches that could be scanned instead to help you hop onto a coach.
The project is currently being planned in collaboration with watch and eyewear brand Titan, is likely to be rolled out in eight months.
Sources in Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) told that with these new watches, passengers could wave their wrist in front of the ticketing machines and gain entry. For now, the plan is to make the watches rechargeable through an online platform.
According to sources, there will be a range of men’s and women’s watches which are likely to be priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500.
“The project is still in the research and development phase and we are examining prototypes,” a CMRL official said.
“The plan is to introduce electronic chips in the watches that can be detected by a machine when flashed. But, we still have technicalities like recharging to be ironed out. It will take at least eight months to arrive at a final version,” the official added.
The official said, “People are moving technologically forward and no longer want to wait in lines to buy a ticket or recharge their cards. So, if we need to cater to them, we need to figure out ways to make things faster”.
He added, “People would rather recharge their cards online than actually have to physically wait and spend time on it”.
In addition to watches, the source said that the CMRL is also planning to introduce a feature that can be installed in mobile phones to substitute regular tickets and cards.
“That way, people can just breeze through, wasting no time at all,” he said.