Metro Railway is introducing QR-coded paper tickets in the east-west corridor.
The coded tickets will be sold at the counters at Sealdah station from October 11 (Wednesday), the carrier said.
“The QR code-based paper tickets will be sold alongside tokens for now. This is being done on a trial basis. If it is successful, we would implement the QR code-based paper tickets throughout the east-west corridor and gradually phase out the token system,” Metro spokesperson Kausik Mitra said.
“In the long-run, we want to phase out tokens on the north-south corridor as well.”
The input cost of the token, which has a chip embedded inside, is more than that of a paper ticket, said a Metro official.
In the new system, a passenger has to buy a QR-coded paper ticket from a counter at Sealdah station. The ticket has to be scanned at the gates leading to the platform.
The same ticket has to be scanned again while exiting the destination station.
“The smart gates across the stations have been upgraded so they can read the QR codes,” Mitra said.
A passenger has to scan the QR-coded ticket at the gates of the station from where he will board a train within 45 minutes of buying it. At the destination station, he has to scan the ticket within 90 minutes of the purchase.
The east-west corridor, which will link Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake Sector V once complete, is now operational between Sealdah and Sector V.
Metro Railway has for long been trying to reduce the use of tokens. The effort got traction in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
The percentage of smart card users has gone up after the pandemic. The Metro Ride Kolkata App, launched in March last year, can be used to recharge smart cards.
The trial with QR-coded paper tickets is a step that Metro officials hope would further reduce the use of tokens.
Delhi Metro has also recently introduced QR-coded tickets.