At its inception two years ago, Pune Metro supported the following ticketing options:
- Human-operated ticket counter
- Self-service kiosk
- WhatsApp e-ticket
- Contactless prepaid card.
Since I’ve a great experience with contactless prepaid cards on rapid transport networks in several cities in the world (e.g. London Oyster Card), I jumped at the last option.
My first attempt to buy the so-called NCMC card failed. More on that at Pune Metro First Impressions.
A year later, I tried again – in vain.
The problem was with the KYC process. The card is issued by HDFC Bank (and operates on the homegrown RuPay card network). Although I’m an existing customer of this private sector bank, merely quoting my Customer ID did not work. I had to fill a long form online with name, PAN, Aadhaar etc. Somewhere along the line, the process broke down.
Many others presumably faced the same problem and couldn’t buy the NCMC card.
1/4 “The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), offering seamless digital payments across multiple public transport systems in the country, has found limited adoption to date.” https://t.co/NAq10e3lJg via @economictimes.
— GTM360 (@GTM360) March 18, 2024
To remedy the situation, India’s banking regulator Reserve Bank of India permitted banks to issue prepaid cards without KYC for stored value of up to INR 3,000 (USD 35).
3/4 Now, when the whole world is moving to letting commuters use their normal contactless credit card for transit ticketing, the regulator relaxes KYC on NCMC card via Reg 3KNoKYC. Further proof that Digital India works only when there’s Brute Force Distribution.
— GTM360 (@GTM360) March 18, 2024
Although Reg 3KNoKYC went into effect a year ago, there was no news of this product on the ground aka metro ticket counter. I was wondering if this was another case of excellent PR à la New York Transit 20 years ago.
Life went on and I forgot about the prepaid card.
Until two months ago. I happened to take the metro on 25 January. When I went to the ticket counter at my local metro station, the attendant informed me of a new No-KYC metro card that would be launched on the following day.
Instead of the list price of INR 118, Pune Metro was going to sell One Pune NCMC RuPay Card at INR 20 as a special Republic Day offer. Since I had no plans of taking the metro on the following day, I was willing to pay the full price and buy the card right then but the attendant said that they’d get the stock of cards only the next day.
Luckily, my next metro trip happened not too long afterwards. I purchased the One Pune NCMC RuPay Card.
Third time’s the charm!
I have used the card for three trips. I can confirm that it works fine.
But only at the turnstile. When I tried to top it up at the self-service kiosk, the reader did not recognize the card. I had to go to the counter to top it up. The attendant there told me that the kiosk “fell sick” from time to time!
While on the subject, here are a couple of observations about Pune Metro Card:
The card came with a brochure and instructions to activate it. One of the steps was to get an OTP on mobile phone and enter it on the POS terminal at the station. The instructions seem to be carried forward from the previous KYC card – in actual practice, the card is automatically activated as soon as it’s topped up. There’s no need to link the card with a mobile phone number.
In fact, there’s no provision to link the card with your mobile number – or any other PII (Personally Identifiable Information) for that matter. This means that the card works like a “bearer instrument” – whoever has it owns it. Losers weepers, finders keepers, and all that. While London Oyster card does not require any KYC for purchase, it does allow the passenger to go to its operator TfL’s website and link the card with their ID so that they have some recourse if their card is lost or stolen.
Net net, if you lose your One Pune NCMC RuPay Card, anyone who lays their hands on it can help themselves to it at your expense. While this is a real risk, it’s somewhat mitigated by two factors:
- The same risk exists with normal contactless credit card and debit card
- This card can’t hold a stored value exceeding INR 3,000, which is not a big sum for many riders.
While I’m overjoyed that I’m finally able to use a tap-and-go card, I’m still peeved that Pune Metro has opted for a dedicated prepaid card. London and many other cities have allowed metro riders to use their normal credit card or debit card as metro card for over 10 years. It’s a shame that Pune Metro did not leapfrog the closed loop technology.
One consolation, though: Apart from paying for metro rides, Pune Metro Card can be used for shopping in the city of Pune. I tried a test payment of INR 5 at a local restaurant. The cashier had never seen this card and was skeptical if it’d work. He dipped the card into the POS terminal. It asked for a PIN, which is not a thing with this card. I asked him to tap it – since contactless payments up to INR 5,000 (USD 55) do not require a PIN, I reckoned that my test payment should go through without a PIN. I was right. It did and I can confirm that the Pune-wide shopping feature works as advertised.
