BMTC to deliver 20,000 student bus passes at doorstep

Bengaluru, July 12: BMTC staff will distribute 20,000 concession passes to school and PU students in Bengaluru in the form of smart cards either delivered at home through post or distributed in school. The BMTC has tied up with the primary and secondary school department to facilitate issuance of passes. The smart card will only be used for BMTC rides.

V Ponnuraj, MD, BMTC told media persons, "Starting this year, we've integrated with the education department and computerized the application process so that students do not have to come to bus stations to get their passes. We collect data from schools and PUC colleges. Students can apply through the website and we're also making a feature in the app to enable the same facility. They need to upload their school/college ID card and fee receipt, pay while receiving the card from our staff who'll visit schools or to the postman at their doorsteps. The cost of the pass will be written on the card."

The BMTC will issue 20,000 cards by the end of July and has received about 55,000 applications from students already. Over 3.80 lakh students-33,250 from primary schools and 60,000 from secondary schools- avail the facility through BMTC every year. The number of PU students availing bus passes is 1,05,000.

What is Closed-loop pass?

The closed-loop cards will be available for other passengers in a couple of months, along with open-loop ones offered by Axis Bank. The latter was introduced last year, which can be used for bus rides, Metro rides, banking and shopping etc.

"The open-loop card is the best option as the citizens need only one card to make payments anywhere. But it's only one bank which offers the service as of now and it's too much to ask all the citizens to switch over to the card offered by one bank. The closed-loop card is a temporary solution until BMRCL, KSRTC, BWSSB and other government agencies also accept payment through one card," Ponnuraj said.

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