Ever since the city has bounced back to the normalcy after the third wave of coronavirus, it has come to light that Mumbaikars have shifted their choice of buying tickets to App based e-tickets giving a major boost to the UTS.
As per a data revealed by railways, there is a rise in usage of UTS app of around 9.45 per cent for purchasing Mumbai local train tickets.
According to figures on Central Railways (CR), in the month of May, over 80 lakh people travelled using UTS App on which 16 lakhs plus tickets were sold by the rail authorities.
In January this year, the CR had sold 6.63 lakh tickets on UTS App that was used by 37.14 lakh commuters. The current daily average of tickets sold on UTS App reflects a daily average of 54,635 tickets that is used by over 3 lakh commuters on a daily average.
With this, it seems that contribution of mobile ticketing is increasing as people prefer using the digital mode than standing in queue. However, there are still long queues at the counter especially during peak hours.
Moreover, officials stated that prior to COVID-19 induced lockdown in March 2020, a total of 12.79 lakh UTS mobile local train tickets were booked. While, it is pertinent to note that the app-based ticketing was shit for almost two years owing to restrictions in commuting in the suburban local network.
Since December 2021, it has seen an incremental growth with 5.93 lakh tickets booked through UTS App which was used by 33.90 lakh people to travel.
The app-based ticketing systems are an innovation that will outlast the pandemic and help both the passengers and the Railways in many ways, like paperless transaction and initiating a shift towards a more cashless, digital economy.
This comes as a welcoming news for railways as national common mobility card (NCMC) is in the pipeline which can be used to travel inside suburban local trains, BEST buses, and cabs as well. Digital ticketing is the future of mass transit, officials added.
If reports are to be believed, this has certainly increased the share of digital ticketing as commuters are buying season passes as well through UTS mobile app. Several drives have been conducted at various stations to educate passengers about the features of the UTS app, the procedure to download it and how to use the same.
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