If you are a Bengaluru Metro traveller, we have some good news for you. Looks like the long wait at the metro ticket booking counter or at the travel pass recharge station will stop being the reason for delaying your journey from now on. And all you have is the latest Metro announcement to thank. In a bid to make booking a metro ticket easier, Bengaluru Metro is all set to launch a ticketing service through WhatsApp. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and WhatsApp revealed the launch of this innovative way of ticket booking in an official announcement on Monday.
WhatsApp is facilitating a chatbot for ‘Namma Metro’ commuters which will be Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integrated. Commuters will soon be able to purchase metro tickets as well as recharge their metro pass through the WhatsApp chatbot within a few commands.
According to BMRCL, it is going to be the first public transit service around the world to allow QR ticketing service for end-to-end booking processes on WhatsApp for commuters.
“The process of making the payment is a seamless experience that gives users the option to pay without leaving the WhatsApp chat interface. After choosing their travel details, users are given the option to pay using payments on WhatsApp by authenticating the transaction using their UPI pin,” the BMRCL said in a statement to the media.
Three important things that you as a commuter should know about Metro QR Ticketing:
- The WhatsApp chatbot service for booking tickets for all commuters of ‘Namma Metro’ will be available in English and Kannada languages only.
- To make use of this service, a commuter has to launch the chatbot by simply sending ‘Hi’ from their WhatsApp to +91-81055 56677. This is BMRCL’s official WhatsApp chatbot number.
- Once the chatbot is launched in WhatsApp, commuters need to select one option from either recharging their metro travel passes or buying single journey QR tickets as a command on the app for proceeding to the payments gateway.
Detailing the process of booking tickets through WhatsApp, various media outlets further stated, “The purchased mobile QR tickets are valid until the day’s Metro service ends. The commuters can cancel their journey and receive a refund of their ticket cost. Over the token fare, the BMRCL offers a 5 per cent discount on QR tickets.”
The managing director of BMRCL Anjum said, “Namma Metro had trained workers and placed QR code scanners in stations. The new system would go into force on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava.”
In a separately prepared solo statement about the launch of this new service, Head of WhatsApp India Abhijit Bose said, “This is yet another great example of how organizations across sectors, from the largest transportation service to the smallest retail business, can transform their customers’ experience using the WhatsApp Platform.”
India is undoubtedly one of WhatsApp’s biggest markets internationally with over 400 active million users using the services of the messaging app across the country. This year, the messaging service app, which is owned by tech giant Meta, finally got the approval for extending its UPI-powered payments to 100 million Indian users.