KTC’s smart move: No conductors onboard e-buses on 3 Panaji routes

Panaji: Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) began operating three routes of the Smart City e-bus service without conductors. These e-buses use a pole mount validator for ticketing and fare collection, which is located at the entrance door of the bus. The routes include Altinho (green), Taleigao (orange) and Cujira (indigo).
“The people of Panaji — residents and floating population — have adapted brilliantly to the new conductorless process,” a KTC official told TOI.
In this system, the bus driver collects the payment via the pole mount validator, which issues tickets to commuters. The machine has a tapping system that can be used by a commuter to tap in and out of the bus. While the Smart City transit card was implemented for payments initially, the KTC now allows banking cards, UPI and cash payments.
“There were several complaints about the payments being completely digital. So, we have reintroduced cash payments on the Smart City bus routes for the convenience of the commuters,” the official said.
Recently, the Panaji market to Dona Paula (red) route adopted semi-conductor operations. There are six stops on this route, out of which three stops are operating conductorless, and three stops have a conductor on board. “We will review the operations and then slowly make the red route 100% conductorless, making it the fourth route to operate fully using pole mount validators,” the official said.
This new system will soon be implemented on all the Smart City e-bus routes in Panaji to have zero human intervention in the ticketing process.
“People have already become sensitised towards the conductorless service. Even our drivers are well-trained to guide those commuters who find difficulty in following the payment process. The entire operation in Panaji is ready to switch to the conductorless service within three months,” he said.
The conductors who were earlier on the Smart City e-buses have been accommodated on KTC’s other e-buses operating across the state.
Plans are also afoot to equip the Smart City bus stops with pre-booking of ticketing services, bus identification, bus tracking and route map visualisation.