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Time of India

Cashless payment yet to gain acceptance in city buses

Thiruvananthapuram: Though cashless transactions have become more or less the norm, private buses in the city are yet to accept digital payments using UPI. KSRTC city service buses have the facility on the handheld ticket machines used by conductors, but commuters hardly know about it. This often becomes an inconvenience for commuters who struggle to get small change in crowded of the private buses do not have upgraded ticket machines that can show QR codes and some staff do not have smartphones. "In some private buses, the crew accept UPI payments on their phones. In others, the conductor has a ticketing machine that displays a QR code for UPI payments. However, commuters need to ask for the UPI payment option," said P Vasudevan, a commuter.A conductor in a private bus that plies via Kowdiar said that he does not have a smartphone and the management has not provided a facility. "We prefer cash. It is fast for us," he added. In another bus, conductors who previously accepted digital payments have started refusing them to avoid the hassle of processing transactions on their personal phones and accounting for them in the day's collection.C Jose, a commuter, said the bus owners can offer a QR code to the crew. Liyons J from Friends on Rails said, "Cashless is the norm. But it is not publicized on transport buses. Railways too introduced it only recently. The employees may fear that they will lose their jobs if UPI payments become popular."He said that the govt should insist that transport buses should have QR codes or QR code-enabled ticket machines. A senior bank official said that a current account is all that is needed to activate digital payments in commercial mode. There is a nominal fee, he KSRTC city buses have UPI, commuters need to inform the conductor in advance that they will be using UPI. "By habit, the conductors don't expect someone to pay by UPI," said Jose. UPI processed Rs 23.49 lakh crore across 16.58 billion financial transactions in Oct 2024, marking a 45% year-on-year growth from 11.40 billion transactions in Oct 2023. Around 632 banks are connected to the platform, says a statement from a time when UPI is getting popular, the hesitation to embrace a convenient payment option by the bus operators in the city is posing a huge hassle to commuters.