Why can't Mumbai have an integrated transport system?

Travelling in the local train Check if you have the white pass in your pocket On a BEST bus The pass is green is colour this time A short taxi ride to work Better keep exact change ready Looking for an auto Prepare to grow old waiting If this sounds familiar it probably is because you live in Mumbai Maximum city has a huge network of transportation systems mdash the local trains taxis auto rickshaws buses and by end of this year mdash even the metro rail and the monorail But the hassle of travelling is still going to be just as bad One of the main reasons the various modes of transports are simply not interested in helping each other And the government is happy twiddling its thumbs instead of doing what the administrations of dozens of other large cities across the world have done mdash introduce a smart card that helps citizens hop on and off various modes of transport without having to buy separate tickets or pay in cash Londoners use the Oyster Card New Yorkers use the SmartLink itrsquos called Myki in Melbourne and Hong Kong has the Octopus Card In each of these cities one Smart Card is sufficient for a person to travel throughout the city with ease So whatrsquos wrong with Mumbai Smooth operators Till date the few announcements and attempts by the government to introduce smart cards have fallen flat No wonder a recent survey by a global travel portal ranked Mumbai at the bottom of the pile when it came to ease of getting around in public transport Compare this to London mdash a city much older than Mumbai and one that has always had its own share of infrastructurerelated problems In London the Oyster Card is applicable for all three modes of transport mdash the surface rail the underground Tube and buses while in New York the smart card is valid even for interstate water transportation apart from interstate trains The extent of integration of public transport is so beautiful in Europe that the Eurail offers a pass that caters to almost all the major cities of the continent such as Paris Rome Prague Venice Amsterdam and Berlin Imagine a Mumbai smart card thatrsquos valid in the Delhi metro Okay Suppress your laughter This is serious business A senior official who had gone on a study tour to a few European nations recently recalled that thanks to the smart card he could travel across the cities without too much hard cash in his pocket ldquoSoon after we got down from the flight we bought this card which could be used for the feeder bus service just outside the airport We soon realised we could use the same card to pay cab fares and even on intercountry train services It is not impossible for this to be replicated in Mumbai but such advanced nature of transportation planning would take timerdquo said the official u00a0Another high ranking government official who had gone on an official trip to the United States explained how a smart card can be swiped on the rotating metal barriers mdash they zip inside a socket from one end and come out from the other ldquoThe passenger can enter the railway premises after the money inside the Smart Card gets deducted and the barriers turn from red to green Once you enter the Metro rail or railway subways one can crisscross different platforms and lines without swiping a second timerdquo he gushed Obviously the official had been to the US but not to Kolkata or Delhi where the smart card works exactly the same way on the metro rail services But what makes these cards truly a boon in a London NY or Hong Kong is the fact that the same card that allows you to board a underground train also lets you get up on a bus and pay the taxi fare ldquoMany global cities have such a system that allows people to make multiple travels for next twothree hours once a card is swiped They have thoroughly integrated both the bus and rail transportationrdquo said noted transport expert Ashok Datar Miles ahead when it comesu00a0to excuses Itrsquos not that Mumbai is waking to this obvious issue today For years the statersquos planning agencies have failed to make any concrete progress towards introducing a common travel card for Mumbai despite several proposals and such lsquostudy toursrsquo Even the stateowned public transport agencies failed to push through a muchhyped lsquoGo Mumbairsquo card that fared miserably and shut down almost before it had been launched The apathy is such that the swipe machines fitted at various bus and railway stations for these lsquoGo Mumbairsquo cards today lie broken and neglected with no one even bothering to remove them The deadline to introduce the smart card for the monorail line between Wadala and Chembur is October 2013 PIC Suresh KKu00a0 To be fair a few attempts had been made to launch an integrated smart card in the city In fact the Maharashtra government and the Centre were working on two different unified smart cards last year Finally in April 2012 the Ministry of Urban Development went forward and created the National Common Mobility Card NCMC called lsquoMore Mumbairsquo ostensibly for buying tickets for the Metro rail services Monorail suburban trains buses and even to pay auto and taxi fares along with a special provision to swipe it for parking and toll charges It almost sounded too good to be true And our skepticism turned out to be correct Highly placed sources in the state government told SUNDAY MiD DAY that the ambitious plan had to be scrapped and they are now beginning from scratch yet again ldquoWe are working on creating a common travel card for Mumbairdquo said BC Khatau chief of Mumbai Transformation Support Unit MTSU This is a parallel planning agency that is involved in studying advising coordinating and monitoring project related to overall improvement of public transport and infrastructure of Mumbai Hope on the horizon The state government authorities meanwhile seem to revel in working in piecemeal fashion So while the deadline to introduce Smart Cards for the first phase of Metro Rail between Versova to Airport Road station the remaining stretch till Ghatkopar will be operational by early 2014 and Monorail line between Wadala and Chembur is October officials are tightlipped when it comes to the progress of the smart card Officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA said while the first phase of Metro rail is expected to start from October this year the Monorail phaseI will also begin operations from November ldquoWe are hopeful that we will be able to launch the Smart Card system before the phaseI of Metro rail and Monorail begins operationrdquo said UPS Madan Metropolitan Commissioner MMRDA He added the MMRDA will soon be calling for global tenders for the cards The Metro rail is expected to carry 25000 people per hour per direction PPHPD while Monorail can bear around 12000 PPHPD But will the cards be ready by October as tenders are yet to be floated in July Our guess is as good as anyonersquos But even if the cards were to be ready on time they wonrsquot really lead to an integrated transport pass The authorities donrsquot expect to cover the suburban railways in the first phase although it is these trains that carry nearly 75 lakh people every day Presently the railways have automatic ticket vending machine ATVM cards that havenrsquot gained much popularity among commuters Of the 75 lakh commuters who take the train every day just 200000 use these cards ldquoA common travel card for all modes of transport is of vital importance for a city like Mumbai We are hopeful that our ATVM card too gets integrated into the system once Metro and Monorails start operationsrdquo said a senior railway official The BEST hope to popularise the prepaid bus pass smart cards The point is will all these cards ever come together as one How smart Many cities across the world have smart cards that make sure traveling across a city is smooth New York ndash SmartLink ndash A single prepaid card gives access to rail ferry and bus services London ndash Oyster Card ndash This card which can be bought even at department stores makes sure you can board the tube or the bus without having to buy fresh tickets or pay cash Melbourne ndash Myki ndash the card can be used to travel on trains trams and buses across Melbourne Hong Kong ndash Octopus ndash The same card can be swiped to pay cab fares travel on buses across the island and even buy groceries Smart cards in Mumbai 35 lakh cards sold by BEST 70000 commuters use ATVM cards between ChurchgateVirar on Western Railway 200 ATVM machines at WR stations One lakh commuters use ATVM cards between CSTKasaraKarjatPanvel on Central Railway 375 ATVM machines at CR stationsu00a0