NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is aiming to link Delhi Metro passenger smart cards with the identity of the cardholder soon. The reason behind this is to offer concessions and discounts to a specific group of commuters, like students and senior citizens, says a recent report.
The move is in line with the authority’s attempt to provide concessions to the above-mentioned segment of Delhi Metro users. For now, these concessions have not been decided upon, as per the housing and urban affairs minister – Hardeep Sigh Puri. These, however, will soon be finalized upon by the Delhi Metro Fare Fixation Committee (FFC), the minister confirmed in a report.
It is also unclear as to how the smart cards will be linked to the holder’s identity. Speculations suggest that DMRC might go for biometric authentication for the same – most likely your Aadhaar card. There are a handful of other options too. Though whichever one DMRC opts for, linking the smart card to a specific identity will render the smart cards non-transferable to other users.
In a recent report, DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh mentioned, “When the solution is implemented, Delhi Metro travel smart card will not remain transferable.”
The smart cards work on radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based system for now. With a biometric system in place, the ownership of a smart card will remain exclusive. From what can be figured though, this will not impact the ability of these cards to be used by anyone.
This is simply because there will be no system in place to check the biometric data at the station itself. So the smart cards will work something like the present Debit/ Credit card. While they will house information of a single person, anyone with access to that information will be able to use the cards.
