No bidders for NCMC, Delhi transport dept to open tenders again

The wait for the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), which will enable commuters to use a single card for all public transport options, shopping, online purchases, and other bookings, will get longer for Delhi residents, as the tenders for the same will have to be floated for a second time, according to officials aware of the matter.

The Delhi transport department had floated tenders for the NCMC in January inviting a concessionaire to set up, launch and operate the system in Delhi. However, it had a single bidder, because of which the process had to be cancelled.

“The first tender relied a lot on the same document prepared for Mumbai NCMC by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) which launched it there. Since it was not customised as per Delhi, we received a single bidder – Chalo – which operates the BEST’s NCMC platform. We have now revised the tender to make the clauses less stringent,” said a senior official from the transport department.

The department has now modified the tender agreement and will be floating it for the second time by next week. Officials said that the bid agreement has been made in a way that organisations from other sectors like banks can also apply.

Last year, Mumbai introduced NCMC-compliant smart cards for its BEST buses and Metro network through Chalo, a transport technology company, and National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) payment platform RuPay. This smart card can also be used in Delhi metro, Karnataka state buses, and some other services.

As part of the Delhi transport department’s agreement, the concessionaire chosen to roll out the project will first have to install electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) in public buses in Delhi to issue these cards. ETMs were used till September 2022 in nearly 2,000 cluster buses but now either they don’t work or need an upgrade, officials said.

“The agreement for the NCMC now is to introduce common ticketing for the bus transport and Delhi metro. We may be looking at integrating other services eventually. The new tender document is ready and will be floated within this month,” said transport commissioner Ashish Kundra.

The NCMC – One Nation, One Card – for transport mobility is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to enable seamless travel by different metros, buses, and other public transport systems across the country besides retail shopping, purchases, and cash withdrawals. The aim of introducing the system was to have one card for all the financial needs of a citizen that could be used across the country.

“Delhi’s public transport is very vibrant with the Metro and other transport modes making travel convenient. All big cities and urban agglomerations now need NCMC for the sheer convenience and safety of having all their payments done through a single card,” said Dhruv Chopra, co-founder, and chief marketing officer of Chalo.