Delhi Metro has been witnessing a rise in the number of commuters using the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), which is also valid in various transport modes like taxis, other metros, rapid rail and buses across the country.
When the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network became NCMC-compliant last June, the monthly users numbered 23,246, which rose to 18.1 lakh in Dec. Introduced by the Centre as a ‘one nation, one card’ for enabling seamless transport mobility, NCMC can also be used for shopping, banking, toll, parking and other purposes.
The NCMC cardholders don’t need to keep a separate smart card for travelling in the metro or any other transport system in the country that has adopted the facility. “Soon after its launch in 2019, DMRC introduced it for the first time on its Airport Express Line in Dec 2020. Gradually, the remaining network was also upgraded with NCMC-compliant automatic fare collection gates (AFC) gates despite Covid limitations during this period. The entire network was made NCMC-compliant on June 5, 2023,” said Anuj Dayal, DMRC’s principal executive director of corporate communications. He added that DMRC was the first and the largest metro system in the country to introduce a fully NCMC-compliant system.
“Till this Jan, within a short span of six months since its introduction in the network, DMRC itself has sold over four lakh NCMCs from its stations. According to the most recent sales data, approximately half of all cards sold from DMRC stations are NCMCs, signalling its widespread acceptance and utilisation by commuters,” said a DMRC official.
DMRC had updated all AFC gates of phases I, II and III stations, totalling around 3,000, for the NCMC and QR ticket facilities in a phased manner during the limited time available at night after the passenger services were over. “This was a challenging exercise, considering that all stations were covered and the gates were already operational,” said an official. “Despite Covid-induced constraints during the same period, DMRC completed the exercise successfully in the largest metro system of the country,” he added.
The work involved the replacement or upgrade of hardware, software and networking arrangements for AFC equipment and servers, and the complete upgrade of the back-office system integration with the NCMC acquirer bank, among other improvements. DMRC officials said all upcoming corridors of Phase IV would also have the facility.
NCMCs are issued by banks in the form of a RuPay debit/prepaid card. Passengers can also get it from metro stations through special counters set up by Paytm, SBI,etc. Officials said NCMC offered the same benefits as a smart card for the DelhiMetro travel, including a 10% discount during peak and an additional 10% off during non-peak hours.
