Commuters on AC Vajra buses in Bengaluru can soon avail of cashless bus passes as the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is planning to introduce them after seeing a positive response to the trial run, as per a report by Nischith N in the Deccan Chronicle. 

The BMTC plans to install electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) at 10 major bus depots in the city to facilitate the cashless pass system. "This is a first step in using a cashless mode of payment for the transport system. All the passengers will have to do is enter their details on a webpage called Namma Pass, upload a selfie and pay for the daily pass online. The selfie will be mandatory to avoid the pass being used multiple times,” a BMTC official told Deccan Chronicle.

Passengers will have to display the digital pass ticket on their mobile phones to the conductor and he will then provide an ID number. After this, an SMS will be sent to the conductor’s mobile as well as the BMTC server following which the conductor will enter the ID number in the ETMs. 

BMTC is expected to save upto 2.6 lakh sheets in paper tickets every day through the cashless mode of payment. 

Meanwhile, environmentalists want the officials to go ahead and introduce a single smart card for all modes of pubic transport in the city. Well-known environmentalist Suresh Heblikar made a case for those who do not have mobile phones and said that it makes more sense to introduce a single smart card or a coin-based transport facility for all modes of transport.

The BMTC had reportedly proposed a single smart card for cashless travel on buses and Metrol Rail earlier but it could not get off the ground as the BMTC had differences with BMRCL on the project.