Mumbai passengers on the western line of the Indian city’s suburban railway network now may use the Mumbai Go contactless smart card for fare payments. The agency officially made the service available at midnight March 10, completing the implementation of smart card acceptance across the city’s public transport facilities, an official from the railway operator tells PaymentsSource.
Mumbai now connects with three railway lines–the central and harbor lines being the two others–and with the Best bus service, and all three accept the Mumbai Go card. “We have installed 359 high-speed entry and exit card readers at stations across the western line,” the official says.
Commuters validate their cards using the readers at the beginning station and again at the exit station, and the agency debits the fare amount based on the trip from the card’s electronic purse, he adds.
Users pay a one-time fee of 35 rupees (75 U.S. cents or 56 euros), and they may load the card account with any amount between 50 and 5,000 rupees, according to the official, noting fare checkers are equipped with hand-held card readers to ensure against fraud.
