For busy rail commuters, UPI makes smart cards passé

Mumbai: Smart cards, which comprised a popular mode of ticketing for suburban railway commuters wanting to jump long queues, are seeing a drop in usage, according to data from Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). Although commuters continue to purchase tickets through automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs), where smart cards are used, they prefer to pay via UPI by scanning the QR code, said railway officials. In fact, most of buyers of new smart cards are retired railway officials who work as ‘sahayaks’ or facilitators, helping commuters purchase tickets through ATVMs, they added.

At present, ATVMs account for roughly 20-25% of the total ticket sales on CR and WR. Ticket sales through the UTS mobile app account for another 10-15% of tickets while the remaining are purchased from ticketing windows at railway stations, said railway officials.

“Though ATVMs remain popular, we have found that sales of smart cards are sliding and many commuters are returning these cards at ticket windows as they are now paying for tickets via UPI, by scanning the QR code displayed on the ATVM machines,” said a railway official.

Data shows that between April 2024 and January 2025, CR sold 3,070 smart cards while WR sold 4,899 smart cards and the monthly average sale of smart cards on CR and WR was 307 and 445, respectively. During the same period, 809 smart cards were returned to commuters on the CR network, while WR commuters returned 1,024 smart cards; the monthly average return of smart cards on CR and WR was 81 and 93, respectively.

Passengers are returning their smart cards and collecting the deposit as they are transitioning to use of QR code, said railway sources. A majority of those buying new smart cards are retired rail staff working as facilitators for ATVMs who recharge the cards with a lumpsum and earn a small commission, the sources added.

“The habit of using UPI has caught on after the Covid-19 pandemic and commuters now prefer to scan QR codes on ATVMs rather than tapping smart cards,” said the official quoted earlier.

The WR, which has 344 ATVMs between Churchgate and Dahanu, is upgrading the ticket vending machines to suit the changing needs of commuters.

“We plan to procure 126 upgraded ATVMs that will facilitate easy online payment. This includes replacement of 117 ATVMs whose codal life has ended,” said a WR official.

Rail passenger associations said while online payments were on the rise, ATVMs remained a good way beat queues.

“It is good that the rail administration has kept ATVMs on foot over bridges, away from main ticket windows, which has also reduced crowding at a particular location,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.