In a move to keep pace with the digitised world, the Pune division of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has introduced an electronic ticket vending machine on buses leaving the Swargate depot. The bus depot, just the second one after Mumbai to implement the project, has almost fully switched over to the electronic ticketing system.

As per the new system, conductors will have to carry a little electronic machine with them on the bus and issue e-tickets to passengers. The machines can perform calculations. The departure points and destinations will also be printed on the tickets.

“After Mumbai, we decided to introduce the electronic ticketing machinery in Pune at the Swargate depot. This newly introduced machinery not only saves conductors’ as well as passengers’ time, but also saves lakhs of rupees of stationery cost. The conductors will be less burdened as the daily calculation will be done in a few seconds through the software. With this machine, issuing tickets will become simpler for conductors,” Shivaji Sonawane, divisional controller of MSRTC said, adding that the system was in effect in the state of Karnataka.

As of now, the MSRTC headquarters at Mumbai Central prints tickets and then dispatches them to its divisional offices across the state, which sends them to the depots.

Vijay Divate of Swargate depot said, “In Pune division, Swargate bus depot was chosen to implement this project on a pilot basis. Swargate depot runs 113 buses on 99 different routes. We have been preparing for this project for sometime now. Though initially, we had to use both, the manual as well as the automatic method of issuing tickets, now, we have completely switched over to the electronic system. There are 200 such machines that our depot has received.”

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