Commuters still prefer tokens to Chennai Metro Rail’s Smart Cards

Four years after the opening of the first stretch of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), as the system witnesses a steady increase in ridership, one clear trend that has emerged is that there are more one-time users of the system, especially to travel to one of the city’s transport hubs. The CMRL mass rapid transit system was inaugurated in June 2015. Commuters can use tokens like tickets, or purchase Smart Cards that can be recharged and swiped before and after the journey. Apart from this, there are monthly passes (trip cards) and group tickets, but most passengers opt for either Smart Cards or tokens. Data gathered by The Hindu shows that from 2015, till the end of 2019, the number of tokens sold each year has been several times higher than the number of Smart Cards sold.