The Kochi-1 open loop National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) smart card, jointly launched by Kochi Metro Rail Limited and Axis Bank, crossed the one lakh milestone on Saturday.
About 30% of the cards were issued to female passengers. As part of this year’s International Women’s Day, the metro agency had initiated a proposal by issuing exemption for issuance and recharge for women and students on the Kochi-1 card. About 800 students and 3,825 female passengers availed the offer.
The Kochi-1 card is a co-branded prepaid card issued at metro stations and Axis Bank branches in Kochi and has wide acceptance of transit and retail touchpoints in the city. The card can also be used in the soon-to-be-launched Water Metro Ghats to avoid the need for multiple travel cards. It is also accepted in over 200 private buses.
He said, “It is heartening to see that the way the NCMC card has been adopted in other metro rail systems as well. These cards will help metro and bus passengers, those who avail parking at metro and water metro stations. We want to enable acceptance in autorickshaws for a complete multi-modal transit ecosystem in Kochi. This is coupled with low carbon emissions and sustainable public transport, which are our key priority areas. KMRL managing director Alkesh Kumar Sharma said that Axis Bank has tied up with more than 100 local merchants under hyper-local strategy on the card.
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