PANAJI
State-owned Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) which operates the intra-Panaji city e-bus services for the 'Smart City' has said these buses will go conductor-less on all the seven routes within weeks.
Earlier last week, the city e-buses began operating without a conductor for ticketing on three of the seven routes using instead pole mount validators for ticketing and fare collection -- the Altinho (green), Taleigao (orange) and Cujira (indigo) routes.
KTCL managing director Rohan Kaskar said the agreement with Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) for operation of the city e-bus services itself mandates conductor-less service.
"We did not implement it from day one of starting operations in July last year to enable the users to first get used to the city bus services. Now we have made three routes conductor-less. Soon we will implement it on all the routes," Kaskar said.
KTCL's drivers of these e-buses have also been trained and are well versed with the digital ticketing system so they can assist passengers who face difficulties, he said.
The validators are at the entrance door of the e-buses and passengers can tap their 'Smart Transit Cards' first while entering and again while alighting from the bus thus automatically getting charged the fare according to the length of their trip.
Other options include buying tickets by using the UPI mode as well as by scanning the QR code available on the e-buses through the mobile app 'Tomok'.
In addition to the QR Code based ticketing, the Tomok app also provides a facility to track location of the e-buses in real time as well as making contactless payment for travel availed.
On the other routes, meanwhile the services use a mixed mode of payment -- both digital and cash. On these routes, especially the Panaji market to Dona Paula route, the transition to the conductor-less operation will be done gradually, the official said.
To improve the services meanwhile, KTC will upgrade the bus-stops in the city equipped with facilities for pre-booking of tickets, tracking buses in real time and visual illustration of the route map.
Launched in July last year, the e-buses have gained popularity and register over 5,000 footfalls daily. The seven routes cover Miramar, Dona Paula, Goa University, GMC Bambolim, St Cruz and also multiple routes through the city and to Altinho. Over 40 e-buses of varying capacities -- 49, 26 and smaller 14 seaters -- are being used for the service and passengers are charged Rs 10 and Rs 20 as per the length of the ride.
However, running the services with a cashless facility did not evoke an ideal response from the users forcing the authorities to change tact and stagger the plan to introduce it one route at a time, on all seven.
The experience of the trial runs for conductor-less operations in November last year made the authorities realise that travellers will have to be given time to get accustomed to the system and technology.
