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Electronic ticketing for buses under study

City Correspondent
A private bus operator's desire to begin a new era in ticketing may not come true as early they may have wanted. But the days are not too far away.
Officials at Trans Silva TYansport Bangladesh Limited are planning to abolish paperticket system and install electronic fare card readers in its buses. But they are yet to find the most befitting and acceptable way to introduce it in the capital city.
"Electronic ticketing systems have been well-established in many foreign countries. I doubt the commuters out there would even imagine of getting back to using paper-tickets," said a spokesperson for the private transportation company.
"However, considering the situation in our country, we cannot just bring in a new technology. We have to study its feasibility -- whether it would be appropriate, and how our passengers would greet the technology," he said.
According to Giasuddin Chowdhury, director (operations) and a spokesperson for Trans Silva Transport Bangladesh Limited, they are looking forward to making the proposed system a reality.
"Almost all the major cities in the world, including the ones in our neighbouring countries have electronic fare collection systems, so why not in Dhaka," he said.
"We have already discussed the matter with the BRTA [Ban-gladesh Road Transport Authority] officials, and if things go smoothly, they will assist the 53 bus companies to adopt the new system," said Chowdhury.
However, BRTA officials believe the new scheme, despite its potential, should be put on hold until an elected government takes charge of the country.
Officials at Trans Silva Transport said the company has signed a contract with Sony Corporation who would supply and install the technology required for the newsystem.
"We have been considering two methods. One is based on coins, where passengers would have to insert coins in the coin receiver. We have requested approval from the Bangladesh Bank for this system," said Giasuddin Chowdhury.
The other method, Chowdhury said, is what they call the electronic IC (integrated circuit] card ticketing system.
This is how the system will work: Passengers will buy electronic fare cards from the office of the transportation company. The fare cards will be magnetically coded to indicate the amount of money that a passenger has fed into the machine or paid to a token clerk.
Passengers will swipe the fare card across an electronic reader on the bus while getting in and once again at the time of getting off the bus. The reader will monitor the distance the passenger has travelled and deduct the price of the fare from the card.
Chowdhury said the new scheme is intended to bring more efficiency in the ticketing system. It will also help stop the fare evasion.
Officials at other bus operators also believe that the new system would drastically reduce fare evasion, which has been on the dramatic rise over the past years. It will also allow transit companies to offer discounts to passengers like students and women, and others who travel during the off-peak hours or who use the subways and buses frequently.
"If implemented properly, this system has the potential to revolutionise the public transportation in the city," said Farhad Hossain, an official from Kolmilata Paribahan, "with it, we can virtually eliminate fare evasion and offer discounts that will attract more commuters."
Transportation employees said the new system may also open the possibility of integrating the city's mass-transit systems, allowing passengers to transfer freely or enjoy discount between the city's buses by using the same card.
Despite the benefits, electronic ticketing systems are not without problems, especially during the initial start-up. Officials at the BRTA said the use of such advanced technology during the first months of operation might cause frequent confusion among passengers and transit employees alike.
"While we expect some initial disliking from passengers who have used tokens all their lives, they will eventually become accustomed to fare cards, just like the people using bank cards today," he said.
Each of the card reading devices will cost around 1.5 lakh. "While the money seems quite outrageous, it will be beneficial in the long term as it will help slash fare evasion," said Chowdhury, "we have urged Sony to keep the price of the devices as low as possible."