NCMC cards issued by CMRL for travelling have not become that popular among commuters as expected - Is it true?
The Chennai Metro Rail Limited or CMRL has been taking huge efforts to make many commuters use the Singara Chennai card or NCMC or National Common Mobility Card. In this aspect, CMRL in the month of October made the process of acquiring this card simple. The KYC or know your customer process was eliminated by the CMRL and had introduced NCMMC dispensers in August in the metro stations in Chennai.
Is all these efforts made by CMRL to attract more passengers to use NCMC cards effective now?
The answer is the use of NCMC cards has increased by just 20percent and the use of travel cards or closed loop cards is at 33 percent. This was brought out by an official from CMRL. He spoke about how NCMC has an additional advantage from being accessible at other city metro also. He added that other city NCMCs would work at Chennai metro stations also.
Launched in the month of April 2023, the NCMCs or Singara Chennai card has not become that famous as expected by CMRL. In the last 18 months, just 4.18 lakh cards have been issued by the CMRL. It must be recalled that NCMC was launched (in all the 42 metro stations) by both CMRL and SBI for seamless commuting across all modes of transport in Chennai. Online payment method was accepted by the CMRL for recharging this NCMC in addition to cash and card payments is known to us.
After issuing just 2400 NCMC cards in the first 3 months after the launch, CMRL issued 52000 cards by the month of September. It must be taken into account that by December 2023 CMRL issued nearly one lakh cards to the passengers. In the first 3 months till March in 2024, the NCMC cards issued increased and more than 1lakh cards were issued. Point to be noted here is from April till now more than 2 lakh cards have been issued to the commuters in Chennai.
According to an official from CMRL, single journey tickets were more in demand than NCMC or travel cards. He hinted that CMRL would concentrate on encouraging more passengers to opt for NCMC cards. In the future, CMRL would stop issuing travel cards to the new customers and eventually withdraw the card to promote NCMC. It is now mentioned that CMRL would witness a spike in the ridership if the last mile connectivity gets strengthened and fare gets revised.
