Common mobility app may be launched on May 1, testing on

Mumbai: If things go according to plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Mumbai One – a common ticketing app for all modes of public transport in the city – on May 1, when he is here to inaugurate the Waves summit.

The app is currently undergoing beta testing, and an inter-ministry team comprising bureaucrats from Indian Railways, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and various state government departments is busy weeding out bugs and glitches.

Mumbai One will allow nearly 10.5 million users of public transport in the city – encompassing commuters of suburban locals, metro rail, monorail and buses – plan their journeys and purchase tickets on their phones, officials engaged in testing the app told Hindustan Times.

According to the officials, the home page will allow users to plan a journey, purchase tickets or view maps. On selecting the option to purchase tickets, the app will show icons for available modes of public transport – such as the UTS app for Indian Railways, apps for respective metro corridors, Chalo app for BEST buses and so on. Users will have to select the boarding and alighting points and class of travel, based on which the applicable fare will be displayed and users will be able to book tickets using an e-wallet or UPI apps.

“We are not sure yet if users will be redirected to the apps of different public transport utilities based on their journey plan, or if those functions will be integrated into the Mumbai One app,” said an official.

At present, engineers are working to fix bugs in the app, such as ensuring that journey plans generated by it correspond with the optimal mode of travel between two locations.

For example, for a journey from Airoli to Bandra, the app suggests a bus ride from Airoli to Vashi, followed by a harbour line train from Vashi to Kurla, then a main line train till Dadar, followed by a western line local from Dadar to Bandra. “It would be far easier and quicker instead to take a local train from Airoli to Vashi, followed by another transharbour train from Vashi to Bandra,” said the official quoted earlier.

“Another issue is that in case of journeys spanning both Central and Western Railways, fares displayed by the app do not match the actual fare,” said another official.

Railway commuters’ associations gave a lukewarm response to the plan to launch the app on May 1.

“We have been hearing about this common mobility app for the last 3-4 years. If the government does launch the app on May 1, it will be beneficial for the public,” said Kailash Verma, member of a commuters’ group.