You can soon buy a smart card for travel across cities

New Delhi, Feb. 9 -- Some months from now, you will be able to travel on a variety of modes of public transport - buses, local trains, the Metro - in select cities, using just one smart card. The common mobility card, called the 'One India Card', that the urban development ministry is currently working on, will be introduced first in Delhi on a pilot basis, shortly before the Commonwealth Games start in October. It will then be extended to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chandigarh.

With a single card - and without buying any ticket - a commuter will be access trains and buses in all these cities once transport operators modernise their fleet to make them compatible for use with smart cards. "It will be a multipurpose card, valid for all operators - government as well as private - and on all modes of local travel. It can be extended to taxis too at a later stage. In time, it will be possible to buy inter-city travel tickets and utility items as well using the card," said M. Ramachandran, urban development secretary.

The funding will be shared by central government under its flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and by the respective transport operators in the concerned cities.