Unified travel card for MTC, Metro Rail soon: Minister

CHENNAI: Soon, you can hop on and hop off government buses and Metro Rail with ease using the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), a unified travel card that allows seamless transit using public transport modes. The Metro Rail is likely to start the trial soon while the Transport Department announced the introduction of the unified card. Replying to the demand for grants, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said MTC and Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation of Coimbatore and Madurai would introduce the national common mobility card to integrate all public transport systems using Rs 70 crore funding from German aid agency KfW bank. He added that children below 5 would be allowed to travel for free and 10% discount would be given to those booking round trips online. Also, SETC would offer courier and parcel service, he said.