The QR ticket machines were installed at the MG Road and Cubbon Road metro stations on a pilot basis on April 4.
DH PHOTO/Shradha Triveni
Bengaluru: If you are a commuter using Bengaluru’s Namma Metro Purple Line, chances are you would have noticed the newly installed ‘QR ticket machines’ at the MG Road and Cubbon Park metro stations.
These machines enable passengers to print QR tickets for their chosen entry and exit points, provided payment is made through Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
An official from the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said approximately 4,500 tickets have been sold since the pilot project began on April 4.
With 14 machines being installed as part of the project, the MG Road station has six of them and Cubbon Park has eight. The system, introduced to avoid overcrowding during peak hours, came into effect ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season when a large number of fans would throng the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to watch the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team.
A BMRCL official told DH that the facility has helped reduce long queues at the ticket counters, particularly during the peak hours. “This is just a pilot project. In just about two to three weeks, we have sold 4,500 tickets. If the trend continues, we will think about deploying this facility at other stations on the basis of the footfall,” he said.
Yet, during weekends and weekday afternoons, when crowds are typically thinner, these machines remain idle.
Commuters interviewed by DH disclosed that they prefer using their metro cards or mobile QR tickets, finding them more convenient compared to purchasing tickets from counters or printing QR tickets themselves from the new machines.
How to use the machine?
Step 1: Choose your preferred language (Kannada or English).
Step 2: Select your preferred source and destination stations according to the serial numbers of the stations or based on the alphabetical order of the stations.
Step 3: Select the number of passengers (minimum of one and maximum of six).
Step 4: Scan the QR code to make the payment.
Step 5: Receive the printed QR ticket.