Delhi-Meerut RRTS to go contactless
Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor, the nation’s first Regional Rapid Transit System, will have an automatic fare collection (AFC) system as well as QR code tickets for passengers. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) recently stated that it has invited bids under the Modi government’s ‘Make In India’ guidelines in procuring the AFC system. With the AFC system, the contactless way of entry and exit will be seamless, comfortable, easy and quick. Passengers will also have the option to use QR code tickets which can be digitally generated on an NCRTC website or mobile application. The system will be similar to Delhi Metro’s token system, where commuters for a single journey between two stations, will be able to buy paper QR tickets from ticket vending machines.
The corridor will allow “EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) Open Loop contactless cards” that are based on NCMC standards for payment. RRTS Passengers will be able to use any of the NCMC cards issued by any Metro network or transport authority or financial institutions in India. According to the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), the bid for the Automatic Fare Collection( AFC )system is based on the Hybrid Annuity Model. Under HAM, first, the system integrator will be identified for installation activities and a financial institution will be selected afterward for issuance as well as acquiring services. The corporation said in other metro systems where the procurement was done through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, a consortium of system integrator as well as financial institutions used to conduct the work of installation of AFC systems and cards’ issuance. On June 15, NCRTC had announced that the corporation as part of its energy management policy, will utilize clean energy for the RRTS corridor project that will ensure a reduction in electricity expenditure as well as significantly lesser CO2 emissions.two levels of AFC media validation will be implemented by NCRTC- one at the concourse level while the other on the platform level. The AFC gates at the platform level provide access to passengers to the executive lounge for boarding the business class coach