BESTpedia

Going Cashless On The Bus: Which Fares Better – NCMC Or UPI?

So, one interesting debate that has happened recently is the question of which is better on a bus – the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC).

Interestingly, a lot of people (who don’t seem to use public transport, as evident from their tone) believe that UPI is a far superior option. In fact, in one discussion on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), I was told by a self-described techbro that UPI is convenient as people have their phones handy and use UPI to buy chai and flowers, and specified that taking out the wallet to take out an additional card in a crowded bus was a burden and not advisable. Sure, but typing out my UPI PIN in front of 30 other people is kosher. Or making others wait while you enter your pin, and the transaction takes its time is absolutely alright.

But let us not digress. We’re now solely looking at which is better, NCMC or UPI. UPI is a great option if either you or the conductor does not have change (or cash for that matter) and you don’t have an NCMC as well. Conversely, if everyone is accepting NCMC and you have one, you can use it here too, right?

Now, in order to test this hypothesis (if you can call it one that is), I used both NCMC and UPI to buy tickets. I used the NCMC at two places: BEST in Mumbai and MTC in Chennai and UPI at two places: BMTC in Bengaluru and MTC in Chennai.

Note: If you want to buy a bus ticket on BEST with your phone, then you’ll need the Chalo app. You can buy tickets, passes and more on the app. Gandharva has covered it here: Chalo, Aage Badho: Getting Familiar With BEST’s New App For Tickets

Now, coming back to NCMC vs UPI.

Let’s start with NCMC. It’s easy to use. In most cases, you hand over the card, say NCMC or Metro Card and that gets the job done. With BEST, I was unsure if my RBL NCMC would work, the conductor reassured me by saying that “he’d make sure it worked”, while with MTC, I have told most conductors that it is a valid card and that I have used it before but eventually they accept it. The whole process is quick, takes about five seconds and is often faster than cash because the conductor does not have to count for change. There’s really not much to say because it is a fairly simple and straightforward process. The only time consuming part is to convince the conductor that the card is valid. This has happened with my RBL, Ongo and Airtel cards.

An NCMC ticket issued by BEST (Pic: BESTpedia)

The only issue is that the card needs to be topped up after 20 or so transactions (some lame protection feature apparently) and this happened with me recently. The conductor topped my card up for ₹0. Since my phone supports NFC, I figure the easiest workaround for this is to top up the card for smaller amounts, rather than loading it up for the entire ₹2000 that the card can support.

Another issue is that of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR). Some transport companies charge extra for this, such as BEST, while most absorb it into their fares. Here is a quick breakdown of BEST’s MDR charges for different fare stages (Regular/Limited/Express/AC):
₹5 – 6 paise
₹10 – 11 Paise
₹15 – 16 paise
₹20- 22 paise
₹6- 7 paise
₹13- 14 paise
₹19- 21 paise
₹25- 27 paise

An NCMC ticket issued by MTC (Pic: BESTpedia)

Now, coming to UPI. This is where things get interesting. I’ve used two different methods of paying via UPI. One is with a static QR Code on BMTC and the other is with a dynamic QR Code on MTC.

A UPI ticket issued by BMTC (Pic: BESTpedia)

Now, the BMTC model is very simple. BMTC began accepting UPI payments in 2020, during the lockdown to reduce contact between passengers and commuters.
BMTC Finally Starts Cashless Ticketing, Uses UPI-Based QR Codes For Transactions
Each bus has its own virtual payment address (VPA, often erroneously referred to as UPI ID) which is the bus’ registration number attached to a Canara Bank Account; Eg: KA57Fxxxx@cnrb. QR Codes for the same are pasted in different parts of the bus, and in some cases, they are also present in the transparent grab handles of the bus.

BMTC QR Code Sticker on the bus (Pic: BESTpedia)

In my case, neither the conductor, nor I had change, so he told me to scan the QR Code and pay. I did, showed him the successful transaction screen and he issued the ticket. This method is extremely popular with passengers using it for as low as ₹5. However, there seems to be no way for the conductor to validate the payment. However, since the ticket machine being used is a standard Pine Labs point-of-sale device, maybe it appears there. This being said, it is high time that BMTC and Canara Bank adopted the NCMC. The process is reasonably fast, although it depends on how fast your internet connection is and multiple people can pay simultaneously making it relatively faster than dynamic QR Codes.

A UPI ticket issued by MTC (Pic: BESTpedia)

Now, coming to the Dynamic QR Code. Here, the conductor has four options on the ETM – Card, UPI, NCMC and Cash. When the conductor selects UPI, it generates a dynamic code that one scans and makes the payment. This is time consuming since it also depends on the speed of the internet on the ETM as well. Only after the QR Code is generated, can you make the payment. Thus, the total time taken to print the ticket takes close to 10-15 seconds. A downside according to me is that the QR Code appeared as invalid on MobiKwik, forcing me to use GPay. The QR Code must be compatible with all payment apps under NPCI’s BharatQR system.

MTC QR Code displayed on the ETM (Pic: BESTpedia)

Overall, it seems that the NCMC is ahead, but let me share two instances that make it the clear winner.

The first instance. A few weeks back, I was traveling to Bangalore. Now recently I have been getting off at Shanthinagar TTMC (Atal Bihari Vajpayee TTMC ) and taking a bus back home. I usually pay by cash but on this day, I had only a ₹500 note on me. This was the week after I first used UPI to buy a ticket. Unfortunately for me, my phone battery ran out, and for some reason, my phone refused to charge, either from my battery pack or from the USB port on the bus. (The cable was at fault, I bought a new one). Which meant that without a phone, I had to pay in cash, which was also a problem since I didn’t have change. Eventually I managed to make change at a shop inside the terminal, albeit the shopkeeper gave it to me grudgingly.

The second instance is a more recent one. On 12 April, UPI services faced a five-hour long outage. This was the longest in over three years and one of four such outages over a three week span.

Now, both these instances were unprecedented and of course problematic.

So, what could be the solution? Going back to the Card? Maybe. At least with Transit.

UPI was introduced to ensure that transactions were conducted domestically, therefore reducing their costs. But then, NCMC is entirely built atop the RuPay platform which operates domestically, unlike Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.

This is not to put down UPI however. It is a fantastic platform. However, in cases like public transport, which experiences high volume density of transactions, it makes more sense to use the NCMC.

What are your thoughts? Do let me know in the comments section below.

Recommended Reading: The Best Interface is No Interface by Golden Krishna

What Do You Think The World’s Smallest Car Was?

What comes to your mind when someone says “The World’s ‘smallest’ car?”

Family Guy joke on Giant Samsung Phone being a Tiny Kia Car, hosted on BESTpedia

I’m sure many of you may have different ideas when you hear the word ‘smallest car’ and some of you may have seen the above scene from Family Guy but still.

In fact, there exists a car that is officially adjudged as the world’s smallest car –the Peel P50 – manufactured by the British (Manx, from the Isle of Man) Peel Engineering Company that was famous for its fibreglass boats in the 1950s through the 1970s when it folded.

The Peel P50 was recognised in 2010 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest production car ever made.

Interestingly, the British also made the Welbike, a portable, foldable single-seat motorcycle manufactured by the Excelsior Motor Company of Birmingham under the management of Station IX during World War II. The bike was designed to be folded into the standard CLE Cannister to be airdropped and then be used.

Anyway, coming back to the topic of small cars.

The P50, on record remains the smallest car. Now, for those of us who grew up in the early 2000s, we might have seen this on the third episode of the tenth series of Top Gear, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. Clearly, for Clarkson, the P50 was too big, as evinced by the pilot episode of the nineteenth series, a mere six years later, when he built the P45, an even smaller car, which, from the looks of it was essentially looked like he was wearing an oversized raincoat while driving on a cart through London.

Jeremy Clarkshon driving the P45 (LG62 LYF)

The P45, built by Clarkson, and called the ‘birth of the future’, was compliant with most of the United Kingdom’s regulations relating to motor vehicles. Based on a quadricycle, it featured a 100-cc, two-stroke engine with a 1.7 litre petrol tank, which could be swapped out for a battery-powered motor, thus making it a hybrid, albeit restricting it to a speed of 3 miles/hour with the battery lasting just the hour. It also featured a reverse gear, something the P50 didn’t have.

Clarkson began by driving the P45 (the base model as he called it, with a “premium” feature being a hand-held wiper to clean the alleged windshield) on local roads before getting onto main roads and eventually the A3 road to reach London where he got so scared that he took the car with him on a bus for the rest of the journey. In London, he drove it into a mall, did some shopping, where he ran it on electric mode and then headed to the British Library to check how quiet the electric mode was, before running out of battery. He also drove it to the theatre to watch a show.

Clarkson also pitched the P45 to the investors of Dragon’s Den (what Shark Tank was known as before) where it ostensibly got rejected for being, well “impractical”.

You can watch Jeremy Clarkson’s adventures with the P45 on YouTube too:

Interestingly, Clarkson also has a show on Amazon Prime UK titled Clarkson’s Farm, which is a farming documentary.

What is the smallest car in India?

At the surface level, there are many answers to this question. Older people might answer Maruti 800, some may say Tata Nano or its electric variant, the Jayem Neo. Some might recall Chetan Maini’s Reva or its successor, the Mahindra E2O. A more recent answer is the MG Comet. Some may include quadricycles such as the Bajaj Qute or the Mahindra Atom.

The real answer here is something totally different. Built by Indore-based Wings EV, the Wings Robin is billed as India’s first microcar and is the same length as an average motorbike. It’s a two seater, with one seat behind the other, much like a two-seater aircraft, although the manufacturer claims it can support 2.5 people.

Here’s what the Robin looks like.

The Wings EV Robin during a test run. Photo via Wings EV on Youtube

(Fun fact: This test run was done at Adarsh Palm Retreat in Bangalore. I saw a test run there last month, but by the time I pulled out my phone, the car had sped away)

There are other names floating around too, if you know any, drop a message in the comments below.

Between 2012 And 2022, DTC Inducted Just Two Buses (And Suffered Crazy Losses)

It’s been a while since I posted anything Delhi related. The last post, written in the context of the 2016 demonetisation excercise, was critical of the Delhi Transport Corporation’s ethics, especially due to allegations of the body being used to launder money. Read: DTC and Ethics: No connection there

So, here goes. As reported by ThePrint, Delhi’s bus melee has been quite chaotic.

In the decade that started with the financial year of 2011-2012 and ended in 2021-2022, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) inducted just two buses into its fleet. That’s right, just two! The matter came to light when the long-pending Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) report was finally tabled by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) recently.

The DTC’s fleet shrunk from 4,344 in 2015-16 to 3,937 in 2021-22. This was despite the availability of over ₹230 crore for the procurement of new buses. Now, to get some context. A 2007 directive by the Delhi High Court asked for the fleet strength to be increased to 11,000 buses by 2009. It was around this time that the erstwhile Blueline buses were phased out and the Cluster Bus scheme was introduced. The cluster bus scheme, under the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) was to operate 5,500 buses with the balance 5,500 to be operated by the DTC. However, as per the report, on 31 March 2022, only 7,001 buses were operational in Delhi, with 3,762 of them being under DTC and 3,239 being under DIMTS. Concurrently, the DTC’s financial liability soared to ₹65,274.3 crore in 21-22 from ₹28,263 crore in 15-16!

After 2011-2012, only two electric buses were procured by the DTC, that too in March 2022. By that time, the low-floor CNG buses that were operating across the National Capital had exceeded their 12 years of useful life. Of the 3,937 buses in the DTC fleet, 1,770 were overage by March 2023. Only five buses were overage in 2018-19, forming 0.13 per cent of the total fleet and that number rose sharply to form 44.96 per cent of the fleet. Subsequently, the DTC procured a mere 300 electric buses till 2023. Nine proposals had been approved by the Corporation’s board between 2013 and 2021 but none went to the tendering stage because either the GNCTD didn’t give formal approval, or because the GNCTD changed the specifications. There was also an inordinate delay in finalising the bids for the electric buses, resulting in the DTC losing ₹49 crore as assistance from the Central Government under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.

Now, the implications of this are pretty clear. DTC’s fleet utlisation remained at 85.27 per cent in the financial year 2021-2022, as opposed to the expected 92 per cent availability for DIMTS contractors. There were between 2.90 and 4.57 breakdowns per 10,000 km due to the exceeding age of the fleet. This was much higher than other transcos and even the DIMTS. In stark contrast to this, the DIMTS fleet saw its fleet utilisation stay at 99.01 per cent during the same period (2021-2022).

It has been a very bad decade for DTC. Clearly. Remember in 2016, there were allegations that the Aam Aadmi Party was using the DTC to launder money in the aftermath of Demonetisation?

Let’s hope things improve from hereon.

Featured Image: A collage of DTC and DIMTS buses

‘Set Your Own Fare’? Welcome To Technology-Enabled Extortion

In the recent past, one major change in how we commute is how ride-sharing platforms have changed their operations. Prior to the pandemic and lockdown, everything was online, digital and there was a lot of crying around. But now, the system has completely changed.

Let’s start with the most obvious change. You can no longer automatically pay for auto rides in most cities in India. You have to manually pay your driver at the end of the trip and more often than not, things don’t exactly go as per expected.

The story of protests against Uber and Ola over the contentious issue of commissions is not a new one. High commissions from the aggregators’ side have led to multiple instances of violence, with taxis being set on fire, offices and vandalised and even customers being harassed and abused. I’ve been at the receiving end of it myself, in 2017. You can read about it here: Bengaluru’s Uber, Ola Drivers’ Greed Has Led to Hooliganism on The Quint.

Then came Namma Yatri. And along with it, the guilt tripping. “WHY USE AN APP THAT CHARGES THIS MUCH COMMISSION WHEN YOU CAN USE AN APP THAT HAS ZERO COMMISSION?” is the standard argument all their ads have made. Remind me again who was involved in arson and violence? Not the commuter. Who gets guilt-tripped? The commuter. The person who pays for the service.

Now, NammaYatri is backed by JusPay, a payments processor. This is important because as a fintech firm, JusPay knows how much it costs to operate a ride-hailing service.

With aggregators moving away from the earlier model to basically acting as a connecting platform for drivers. In 2016, I had written that India is better off with Uber and Ola drivers being labelled as self-employed. You can read it here: India Is Better Off With Self-Employed Uber And Ola Drivers. In the article, I had argued that the ‘self-employed’ model of drivers was indeed the best model for cabdrivers as it gave them the flexibility to operate, which would be gone if they were to be classified as regular employees. My view has remained the same, albeit my stance on libertarianism has softened significantly, especially post the pandemic and consequent lockdowns. Remember I had once posted about a platform called ‘LibreTaxi’? Move Over Ola and Uber, LibreTaxi Is Here. My views on this have changed significantly.

Now, before I go into the main story, let me also drop another name here: ONDC and the Beckn protocol. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a Government of India-backed public technology initiative that was launched in 2021 to enable a level playing field for smaller players in the e-commerce field. It was meant to provide an open, inclusive system for retailers, shoppers, technology platforms and prevent cartelisation of the sector by Big Tech giants like Amazon, retail giants like Walmart (through Flipkart), and even our homegrown duopolies of Zomato and Swiggy. Eventually, it has evolved into an ecosystem that today also includes the transport sector (through Namma Yatri).

If you want to see how ONDC functions, simply open the Paytm app, and search for either ONDC Food or ONDC Shopping. You can then place an order directly with the restaurant, who will then dispatch the order via a delivery partner (Dunzo, ShadowFax or others) and you pay with the app itself. ONDC is also available through other apps such as PhonePe, but I’ve only used it on Paytm.

The Beckn protocol functions as the backbone of the ONDC ecosystem by treating each entity (discovery, booking, payment, delivery and fulfillment) as separate entities or micro-transactions. Do read What is the Beckn protocol – the backbone of ONDC? To get a full understanding of how things work. Note. I absolutely love ONDC. It has made things cheaper, especially food deliveries. But while ONDC acts similar to using an aggregator for purchases, ride-sharing is a different story.

Now, coming back to Ola, Uber, Rapido, Namma Yatri, and their new model of services.

For starters, under the old model of operations, there was some accountability. Auto-drivers, especially in Chennai, who have never operated by meter were beginning to get in line. However, in this new method of operation, the idea is ‘please discuss the fare with the driver’, or ‘negotiate the fare with the driver’, which essentially means, pay whatever the driver demands since we are no longer involved and in the event you get overcharged, then you can’t even go and claim a refund.

Rapido in fact tells you that the fare is not enough if nobody accepts the trip and starts nudging you towards increasing the fare. Namma Yatri too does something similar, except it calls it a tip. Ola meanwhile just says your fare will be between x and y, please discuss it with your driver and in my experience, they demand more than what the higher number is.

Another important aspect is privacy. Yes, while drivers already had access to some data about you, such as your name where you are going and your phone number (kudos to Uber and Namma Yatri for masking my number), now they will also know which bank I use and my legal name.

Alternatively, there is the case where drivers flat out refuse to accept online payments and demand cash because they don’t want to use a bank account (Hint: It has to do with Income Tax). If you’re lucky, the driver won’t argue too much and may not abuse you.

One more important factor is time. With the earlier model of letting the app handle payments, all I had to do is get out of the vehicle and go on my way. With the direct payment model, that is problematic. My phone’s battery might be low, I may not have a stable internet connection, (both of these have happened to me) and the lamest excuse: The driver is waiting for the SMS to reach his phone. When I asked an Uber driver when he got paid (for in-app payments), he told me payments are processed daily, and he got paid at the end of a calendar day. I don’t see what the problem with that is. Most of the users are salaried employees who get their salary at the end of the month.

In the recent past, once this new model of operations became the norm, there have been many cases when autowalas have refused to accept a ride for a certain fare. For the commuter, the app suggests that they either bump up the price or offer an extra tip (depending on the app) in order to get drivers to accept the ride. This is basically going back to the old method of haggling over fare before settling down on what the driver wants.

Ridesharing was meant to bring in order into an otherwise unorderly sector, but it seems to have done the exact opposite. At the same time, governments have begun to look at autos as a perennial vote bank and therefore neither enforce meter rates nor penalise them for overcharging. Essentially, it’s the commuter who is left in the lurch.

What are your views on this? Do drop a note in the comments below.

NCMC: An Open Letter To NPCI And Several Transport Operators

This is a quasi-continuation of the previous post All You Need To Know About The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) where I had mentioned about ‘Exclusive’ NCMCs.

It was Saturday, 16 March 2024. I walked into the Vanaz metro station in Pune, asked the Customer Care if my NCMC would work (they said yes) and then crossed security. When I swiped my card at the turnstile, it refused to work. I tried multiple times and it still didn’t work. I then walked back to the counter and was asked to show my card. Back then I was using an RBL Bank issued Namma Metro NCMC from Bangalore. On seeing my card, the customer care agent curtly replied, “This card won’t work. You need to get our NCMC”. I know, it didn’t make sense then and it doesn’t make sense even now. Eventually I settled on buying a ticket to PMC Bhavan so that I’d take a bus back. I was originally planning to try out both lines but now I’d have to buy different tickets, instead of just swiping in and out as I had originally planned. Totally dampened my spirits and left me unable to even enjoy the Titagarh Firema trains that I had been looking forward to ever since they released the first render. To make matters worse, it turns out that when I tried to pay for my tickets using UPI, it didn’t work on either Amazon Pay or MobiKwik. Yeah, I’m not big on GPay or PhonePe. Eventually I settled for paying in cash. It seems Mahametro was pulling out all the stops to ensure that all the interoperability that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) strived to ensure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Digital India mission would fail. The interesting thing was that barely a month ago, one Bhaumik Gowande had shared on Twitter (now X) that he had successfully used his HDFC Bank-issued Pune Metro NCMC on the Delhi Metro. Eventually I confirmed with multiple people that no other card worked on the Pune Metro. Two days later, I was in Mumbai where I used the same RBL Bank NCMC without issues on Mumbai Metro’s Line 1 and Line 7 as well as on a BEST Bus.

This has been a total disappointment so far since I’m the guy who used to travel a lot between Mumbai and Pune and I always got off at Chembur and made my way to Ghatkopar before heading to Andheri by metro. The metro would seem to be the obvious choice coming back to Pune as well. If I caught a bus heading to Pune Station via Pimpri-Chinchwad, I’d get down at PCMC Bhavan, if Swargate via Chandani Chowk then at Vanaz. I sincerely hope that the PMRDA/Pune IT City Metro Rail/Tata-Siemens line does not do the same mistake since a lot of people would get off at Bhujbal Chowk and take the metro to either Hinjewadi or the rest of Pune City.

Over the next few months, I heard that the issue was there even on Nagpur Metro, another MahaMetro Line. This got me thinking and after reaching out to a few more friends, I unearthed more. It wasn’t just Pune and Nagpur but also Kochi and Noida for metro and Ahmedabad and Surat for buses.

Then I stumbled upon NPCI’s list of live members and everything made sense. Noida’s City1, Ahmedabad’s Janmitra, Surat’s SuratMoney, Kochi’s Kochi1, Nagpur’s MahaCard and Pune’s OnePune Card were all ‘exclusive NCMCs”, although that makes no sense. That’s neither National, nor Common. Or, to quote someone who replied to me when I was ranting about my Pune experience, NCMC in these cities stood for “Nahi chalega, M*****c***”.

Now, just imagine the irony of this. The NCMC in its current form was launched six years ago, coincidentally on my birthday, by the BJP government and was promoted extensively as ‘One Nation, One Card’ everywhere. The RBL Namma Metro NCMC from Bangalore in fact even says these four words on the front of the card. Of the six cities where this exclusivity is seen, five of them are in BJP-ruled states. Oh, the delicious irony. I’ve already explained why this is a bad idea for the Mumbai-Pune belt already but here me out.

In Noida, as part of the National Capital Region (NCR), there are three metro systems adjacent to it that accept NCMC – Delhi Metro, RapidX, Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon (RMRG). You can count Delhi Metro twice if you want to count the Airport Express line as independent and skip RMRG since it is practically a part of Delhi Metro since IL&FS went bankrupt. It gets worse considering that in the near future, the Meerut Metro will open up and since it is an extension of RapidX, you can use the NCMC there with a breeze but just not in Noida and Greater Noida.

Now come down to Amdavad where the Gujarat Metro Rail Corp (GMRC, formerly MEGA) accepts any NCMC across its network. But the Janmitra Card, issued by the Ahmedabad Smart City Corporation through ICICI Bank is the only card that works on the Janmarg BRTS, AMTS buses, and for entry at Kankaria Lake and the Sabarmati Riverfront. So you still need to carry two cards here.

Surat remains fairly fine in the current scenario but once the Mumbai-Amdavad HSR line opens up, and the Surat Metro as well, what will happen? People will be traveling a lot between these cities and it will be the repeat of the Mumbai-Pune debacle. Kochi, alone remains fairly isolated in this mess but I’ve been told that Axis Bank requires you to go through the entire KYC process once a year. Ironically one transit fan once made fun of me saying Kochi was the first to launch NCMC and Mumbai and Bangalore had a lot of catching up to do. That must be stinging him today.

Further, what if this causes existing transport operators who accept any NCMC to start accepting only their own NCMC?

So, to NPCI, MahaMetro, Noida Metro Rail Corp, Kochi Metro Rail Corp, Amdavad and Surat Municipal Corporations, can we set aside this nonsense and truly embrace a common mobility card? One that works everywhere? One that doesn’t need me to buy your card when I have a perfectly functioning card already? My current Airtel Payments Bank Card has successfully been used on six systems as of now – Mumbai Metro One, Maha Mumbai Metro, BEST buses, Bangalore’s Namma Metro, Chennai Metro and MTC buses. As I travel, I will be using the card on other systems that support any and all NCMCs.

The very concept of an ‘exclusive NCMC’ beats the very concept of the card itself. I hope the NPCI and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the implementing agency for the NCMC take note of this to make things easier for commuters.

All You Need To Know About The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)

One phrase that has been going on for the past few years in the transit scene is the National Common Mobility Card, or NCMC, sometimes going by the name One Nation, One Card as well. So, what is the NCMC, how does it work and how does one get it?

The answer is simple. The NCMC is essentially an EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) compatible open-loop card that can be used for transit almost anywhere in India. The NCMC is a RuPay (usually Prepaid, sometimes Debit) card issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) through a bank. In principle, any RuPay card (Prepaid and Debit) can be used as an NCMC after a service area creation (you present the card to the customer care at the metro station and ask them to do so) and after that it works. Just ensure that the RuPay Contactless symbol is visible on the card. The transit balance is known as the ‘Offline’ or ‘Contactless’ balance and is not the same as the balance that can be used for regular swipe transactions.

Now comes the common question, what if you, like me, don’t want a regular debit or credit card shoved down my throat and just want a card purely for transit purposes?

So it turns out NPCI has three variants of the RuPay Contactless. The first is a Debit Card that is linked to a savings bank account and has the following limits: ₹2,000 for transit payments, ₹5,000 for contactless PoS payments, ₹10,000 for ATM withdrawals and ₹25,000 for shopping (regular payments). The second is the Minimum KYC Wallet that allows for the same ₹2,000 limit for transit payments and ₹9,000 for PoS payments (shopping) and drops support for ATM withdrawals. The last one is the Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) card that acts as a standalone transit card with a limit of ₹2,000 for transit payments only.

Now, most transit companies that are accepting NCMC (You can check out the full list by clicking here) will issue a card either after minimum KYC or even no KYC. For minimum KYC, they will ask for your ID proof, either PAN or Aadhaar and a phone number. For no KYC, you don’t even need that. If you’re in Chennai, you can get a no KYC Ongo NCMC through vending machines at various stations. If you’re in Mumbai, you can get the Airtel NCMC with just your phone number and a one-time password (OTP) at any Blue Line (Line 1) station.

If you get an NCMC at either a metro station or bus terminal, then you will likely not have to create a service area for it. You can just directly use it.

Now, coming to the next part – recharging your NCMC. An NCMC can be recharged anywhere where it is accepted. That means you can recharge it at the customer care of the metro station you used it at or at the depot of the bus transco that you used it at. Alternatively, you can also recharge it online, using the bank’s website or the bank’s app. Note. Online recharges require the card to be topped up before they can be used. You can do this at any of the card validating machines at the metro station, or if you have NFC capabilities on your phone, you can do it then and there. If you’re recharging at a metro station, do ask the staff once. Some metro systems have awkward regulations, such as Chennai Metro not allowing UPI transactions for non-SBI cards to be recharged.

Where the NCMC won’t work

Now comes an interesting thing. There are some cases where your existing NCMC may not work even though the system is fully NCMC compliant. These are: Noida Metro, Kochi Metro, Pune Metro, Nagpur Metro, Ahmedabad Janmarg (BRTS), Ahmedabad City buses (AMTS) and Surat Citilink (BRTS). Why? According to NPCI, these systems are exclusive systems which means that only their NCMCs will be accepted there but not others. However, these NCMCs will be valid on all the other non-exclusive systems. To quote NPCI: “Exclusive NCMC project means a single bank is selected by a transit operator who acts as issuer as well as acquirer.” Further, NPCI also states that “NCMC cards of other banks will also get accepted in future as decided by Authority.”

A more detailed article on this will follow soon.

So now, you know how the NCMC works, how to get one, how to recharge it and how to use it. So go on out, start traveling and let me know. If you run into any trouble or find out something interesting about the NCMC, do drop a note in the comments below.

Note: I personally recommend getting the Airtel Payments Bank NCMC. It has so far been problem-free, allows me to track my payments properly and more.

It’s Official! BEST’s Chalo Bus Will Soon Ply Across Atal Setu

Transit fans and Infra fans can rejoice now as the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undetaking’s Chalo Bus premium service will now ply across the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Trans-Harbour Link or Atal Setu, India’s longest bridge connecting Sewree (Shivdi) to Nhava Sheva across the mainland. This will mark BEST’s foray into connecting the Ulwe side of Navi Mumbai, which it has hitherto not touched.

Route number S-145 will connect Konkan Bhavan on the Sion-Panvel Highway at CBD Belapur to World Trade Centre near Backbay Depot. The bus will run via Sagar Sangam (near the NMMC Head Office, also known as White House by some locals at Killa/Kille Gaon), Targhar, Ulwe, Aai Tarumata, Kamadhenu Oaklands, then take the Atal Setu and Eastern Freeway before touching Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Churchgate Station (Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk) and then terminate at World Trade Centre at Cuffe Parade. At this point I don’t know if the bus will have a stop at Mantralaya, which falls between the last two stops.

Four buses will be operated on this route, of which two will travel in the CBD Belapur to World Trade Centre direction in the morning and two in the reverse direction in the evening.

You can book your seats with the Chalo app on Android and iOS.

Apart from this, a report in Mid-Day by Rajendra Aklekar also states that BEST plans to run regular services in the Ulwe belt.

Chalo conducted a trial run with bus enthusiasts including Shubham Padave and Gandharva Purohit.

Featured Image: Chalo Bus on Atal Setu by Shubham Padve (used with permission)

To know more about how the Chalo Bus operates and how to book tickets, do read Gandharva’s article: A Review Of BEST’s Chalo Bus On Day One

Put On Your Creative Hats For #RoadSafetyMonth

Hi there, sorry for not being too active here. There are some issues with the blog and a few posts that have been published are not visible because, well, let us not get into it.

Anyway, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) of the Government of India is observing 15 January to 14 February 2024 as Road Safety Month. As part of this, MoRTH and various other agencies, Central, State, Civic and Private are running a slew of activities to raise awareness on Road Safety.

Among these, the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS), at IIT Madras, headed by Professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian has organised a series of events. Two of these events were local – a flashmob at Phoenix MarketCity, Velachery and a 5K run within the serene IIT campus – while the remaining three are pan-India events that are open to participation till 29 February 2024.

The first among these is the Road Safety Essay Challenge. This is open to all school students in classes 6 to 10 across India. You have to write a 500 word essay with the theme Steering Towards Safety: My Vision for Safer Roads.

The second is the Road Safety Photography Competition. This is open to all Indians. There are three themes that participants can choose, namely My Life, My Safety; Commit to Safe Transit; and Capturing Safer Infrastructure. You can submit photographs that are unedited and have been clicked in the last six months.

The third one is the Short Film Making Competition. This too is open to all residents of India. The theme is Road Safety by Young Actors. The film duration can be between 5 and 10 minutes, and can be in any Indian language with English subtitles.

All three competitions have prizes for the winners so do take part in them.

Do visit the official page on CoERS’ website to know the complete details and submission guidelines as well as the submission forms. The link is :
Road Safety Month organised by the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety, RBG Labs, IIT Madras

You can also watch Professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian talk on why raising awareness on road safety is important:

That’s all from me for this time. Till then, let’s make our roads safer. Stay safe, and happy traveling. Let’s raise awareness so that we’re #SaferTogether

Return Of The King: BEST Launches Electric Double Decker on Andheri-SEEPZ Route

Bringing cheer to commuters in Andheri (East), the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking launched its second electric double decker route in the suburbs on A-415 connecting Agarkar Chowk (Andheri Railway Station East) to SEEPZ.

This densely populated route was earlier served by double decker 415 prior to the old fleet being scrapped. For a long time, the only AC bus between Agarkar Chowk and SEEPZ was BEST’s AS-422 that went up to Mulund Check Naka. In late 2016, when BEST was experimenting with its fares, it launched AS-415 (using the Cerita fleet) that mirror the regular 415 and was a sleeper hit. Subsequently, BEST ran its Tata Starbus Hybrid fleet as BKC-16 on this route.

This was one of the most important corridors for double deckers, hence they remained mostly with Majas Depot, except towards the end when they were transferred to the Marol Depot. The new electric buses operate out of the Kurla Depot as charging infrastructure isn’t in place at Marol or Majas yet. Double Deckers in the suburbs currently operate out of either Kurla, Dharavi or Kalakilla Depots.

Futher, the Metro line (Mumbai Metro 1/Blue Line/Reliance Metro) was also built keeping in mind the height requirement for double decker buses underneath it. Judging by the success, I’m guessing BEST did not run into (quite literally) any of the height issues that A-310 is currently facing at the Nehru Nagar junction atop the Santacruz Chembur Link Road.

BEST’s third AC double decker in the suburbs meanwhile runs on route A-332. This route connects Agarkar Chowk to Kurla Depot and travels via Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road till Saki Naka where it takes a turn onto Andheri-Kurla Road via Jari Mari. This journey should be interesting since amid the top-angled view of all the slums en route, once would also get to witness magnificent landings and take-offs at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. However, the bus did run into the same height issue as A310 due to which it has been truncated at Kurla Depot instead of Kurla Railway Station (West).

A-415 meanwhile has run into its own set of controversy, over standees on the bus. Reportedly, as per the rules laid out by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), standees are not allowed on the upper deck of a double decker. While I personally do remember seeing standees on the upper deck of a bus, that was nearly two decades ago when 266 from Andheri Station (West) to Swami Samarth Nagar (Extension) had double deckers. A notice near the rear of the bus, printed on paper has been posted, prohibiting standees on both decks with conductors refusing to board more passengers if all seats are occupied. This has understandably irked people, with some asking if the new buses were delicate.

Let’s hope BEST is able to sort out its issues quickly and bring back normalcy on the city’s roads.

Featured Image: Two A-415s crossing each other at Chakala Signal (Western Express Highway Metro Station on Blue Line 1 and Gundavali on Red Line 7). Picture via Sahil Pednekar on Twitter.

BEST Launches AC Double-Deckers on Bandra-Kurla Route, Runs Into Trouble Due To Height Issues

Giving commuters in the suburbs a reason to cheer, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking finally launched its much anticipated electric Double Decker fleet of Switch EiV 22 buses on route 310 (A-310) between Bandra Railway Station (East) and Kurla Railway Station (West) via the Bandra Kurla Complex. This sector was earlier services by the regular double-deckers on Route 310.

However, a slight snag affected the services resulting in several changes. The height of the old buses stood at 4.38m while the height of the new bus stands at 4.75m. This is problematic since all buses bound for Kurla Railway Station (West) have to take a U-turn under the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road’s double-decker flyover to reach the station.

BEST has decided to truncate the double deckers’ route at the MTNL Telephone Exchange while regular single-decker buses will continue on till Kurla. This height issue is expected to affect other routes as well, such as 313 between Santacruz Bus Station and Kurla Railway Station (West) and 332 between Agarkar Chowk (Andheri Station East) and Kurla Railway Station (West).

Interestingly, Mumbai’s suburban railway network hit a similar snag in 2016. When the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai sent the first AC train prototype, it was found to be 4.335m tall as opposed to the maximum permissible height of 4.25m due to several low-lying older bridges on the Central Railway line.

What will BEST do to solve this issue? That remains to be seen.

Update: It seems BEST has asked for a traffic signal to be installed at the junction of SCLR and SG Barve Marg so buses can directly take a right turn towards Kurla Station. This could potentially be problematic as the entire stretch of the road from the Eastern Express Highway to the Western Express Highway is being made signal-free. A signal earlier existed here when SCLR first opened up in 2014. It was a bottleneck as the junction also housed a water tank and pump-house on the median. This was later relocated in 2015 and the junction shut.

Prior to the construction of the SCLR towards the East of this junction, the original SG Barve Marg traveled from Kurla Depot signal on LBS Marg and turned towards Kurla Station. A flyover was built over LBS Marg between 2007 and 2012 and the road was re-aligned towards Kurla East, thus turning SG Barve Marg into a branch road.

In case you are wondering how buses access Kurla Railway Station (West) from Kurla West, here is a video by Gandharva Purohit that shows exactly how it works.

Featured Image: BEST Double Decker taking a U-turn under SCLR towards Kurla (Dharam Tiwari, via Twitter)

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

What is the smallest car in India?

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!

Show Some Love: Go on, Share!