Kolkata: Metro tokens to return on Thursday after 21 months | Kolkata News – Times of India

KOLKATA: Tokens will be back on the Metro from Thursday after nearly 21 months. Till now, only smart cards were allowed on board a train.
Metro Railway on Monday announced that “tokens are going to be reintroduced on North-South and East-West Metro from Thursday for the convenience of one-time commuters”.
Apart from the cash counters, tokens can also be bought from the automatic smart card recharge machines inside stations.
Even as Metro is is bringing tokens back, stress is on the easily rechargeable, multiple-journey smart cards as the preferred ticketing system, especially since the pandemic is still very much on. Metro has therefore added in its statement, “However, regular commuters are requested to use smart cards for availing Metro services as these user-friendly smartcards will help them avoid queues in front of counters and they will continue to get 10% bonus on the ride value of the smart cards.”
In fact, utilities like DMRC in Delhi has officially done away with tokens and issue them only on on request. But as Metro resumed operations in Kolkata, post the second wave, the demand for tokens has been rising.
TOI on Saturday reported that around 4,000 smartcards are returned daily forcing the carrier to debit nearly Rs 1.7 lakh from its cash counters every day. Metro’s DGM Protyush Ghosh had said, “Once tokens are back, things will be back in order.”
At the Metro Railway Users Consultative Committee (MRUCC) meeting on November 9, Metro’s general manager Manoj Joshi had promised to reintroduce tokens soon, when Covid cases dipped. Metro on March 13 deferred its decision on re-issuance of tokens from March 15 as Bengal’s daily Covid count rose to 700-plus.
Metro introduced smart tokens in 2011, phasing out the magnetic, paper tickets. Tokens are actually plastic discs, valid for a single journey along a specific zone. They do not work if the commuter travels further, but are convenient for a day’s journey.