New Delhi (Metro Rail News): Delhi Metro commuters can avail auto top-up facility soon. This features will encourage passengers to use the smart card. An agreement has been signed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) with Anduril Technologies Private Ltd which is a private technology company which is going to provide new smart card which will recharge automatically.
The new electronically-rechargeable cards will get automatically updated when the user taps the card at the entry gate. “Initially, this facility will be available on the new cards only, but will subsequently be added to the existing ones as well”.
About 16-17 lakh daily metro commuters use a smart card and automatic smart card recharge facility is going to be huge for them. The national daily report added by that next month may be the smart card called ‘Autope’ may be rolled out. For this facility official app or website will be made on which customers have to register themselves following which the card will be home-delivered.
According to the report, once the system stabilizes, the facility will be added to the existing card holders as well. “Waiting in a long queue is the biggest challenge a commuter faces at the stations. Although online recharges are prevalent, the card has to be presented to the add value machine (AVM) for top-ups. The new technology will allow auto recharge of the smart card as and when the value falls below a threshold”, stated by the Anurag Bajpai, (founder of Anduril Technologies private Ltd), in a report.
These new ones can be linked to any bank account unlike the co-branded cards offered by the banks. For the trial purpose, the company has already launched the new set for a closed user group. The official launch is scheduled in mid-July. Aside from Delhi Metro, this feature will be rolled out in Mumbai and other metro networks as well, further told by Bajpai.
Adding up to this facility one more facility is soon going to unveil by the central government is that a new smart card that can be used across all metro rail networks for a limited number of trips. Before using the card users will just have to charge them at the counter. CDAC has been given a task by the urban affair ministry in order to come up with specifications for these new cards.
