Cashless travel on public transport systems has not gained momentum in the cities of a developing country like India. Modern rail-based systems like metro trains have laid milestones in achieving cashless travel. Delhi metro already has smart cards and RFID coins, whereas other projects planned and under implementation in metropolitan cities in India' namely Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai, etc.; will have paperless travel in the near future. But overall, the smart card users of urban public transport systems of India will be a small fraction limited to rail based systems only, as the bus-based public transport systems (which are carrying more passengers than rail-based systems) have not achieved implementation of cashless travel. The paper ticket-based, conventional system still prevails and is used extensively. It is high time that Indian cities modernize their bus fleets and fare collection mechanism to accommodate cashless travel.

More than ten BRT systems have been planned and sanctioned funds by the ministry of urban development (MoUD), Government of India, and are under implementation. Ahmedabad BRT system, also known as 'Janmarg,' is the first successful and full fledged BRT system in India which has received international recognition and is praised as a model BRT project for Indian cities. Most BRT systems are designed to have cashless travel capacities by means of smart cards, based on the international experience of successful BRT systems like the one in Bogota, Colombia. But, as of now, only Ahmedabad's BRT system has smart card usage.

Examples of integrated public transport systems having common fare payment modes, like Oyster cards, are used as a common means of payment for travel in variety of public transport modes across the whole of London. Octopus cards used in various transport systems of Hong Kong is another such example. The government of India's Ministry of Urban Development, has launched a card called the 'More Card' with an aim to standardize the smart card-based payment system across all public transport systems in India like BRTS, Metro Rail, Mono Rail, etc. Pilot implementation of the More Card has been done with the Delhi Metro Rail.

Smart cards on the Ahmedabad Janmarg were launched in December, 2011, but, interestingly, the use of smart cards by passengers has not achieved acceptance yet. A study on the Janmarg passengers' data has revealed some interesting statistics. The Ahmedabad BRTS system was planned to have off-board fare collection system wherein passengers have to pay outside the station for their trip before the journey began. The system started with issuing paper tickets at all BRT stations and the idea during the planning stage was that for the long term, smart cards will replace the paper tickets minimizing use of paper tickets, with citizens having the freedom of cashless travel without the hassle of paying money each time at the ticket counter. As of today, the Ahmedabad BRT system is operational for 63 km, with a planned 88.8 km., with more than 100 stations, all of them having access barriers for smart card use. Daily average smart card users are 13-14%, as compared to passengers travelling with tickets at 86%. It is interesting to know that a majority of passengers like to stand in a queue outside the station and pay 'change money' for purchasing ticket. 5 routine days of passenger ticket sales data of Ahmedabad BRTS was collected and analyzed for this research. 

The statistics gathered from the passenger data of BRTS reveals the following information:

The above diagrams show percentages of passengers travelling various distances in BRT buses in the Ahmedabad system. About 50% of the Janmarg users with smart cards and paper tickets travel for about 6 km, paying an amount equal to Rs.7 which accounts for about Rs.1 per kilometer of travel. There is also a variation in percentage of smart card user's station use which is shown in the graph below.

The study of Janmarg smart card passengers is a very important reference for all Indian cities implementing BRTS and metro rail projects. They should consider important aspects like fare integration, physical integration, passenger information, etc., and address them well in advance in order to make the investments done in implementing IT systems like cashless travel by smart card viable and fruitful.