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The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) is planning for a cashless ticketing system and is in talks with the Chennai Metro Corporation to introduce a national mobility card to integrate all the public transport systems. German Bank KfB will provide funding to the tune of Rs 70 crore for the project.

Three state transport corporations -- MTC (Chennai), and Madurai and Coimbatore divisions of the TNSTC -- are set to introduce cashless ticket system under which commuter can pay with mobility cards.

While swapping of cards at the entry and exit points is not feasible in transport buses, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being used and RFID technology-powered GPS enabled payment system is being considered.

A TNSTC official told IANS that tenders for the RFID enabled GPS mobility payment system will be made soon, adding that a mobile app for recharging the mobility card is also being planned.

This will help the commuters to pay the ticket fare through mobile apps such as Google Pay and Paytm.

The TNSTC is planning to introduce the cashless payment system by the end of 2022 and all the modern technological support for the transport corporation is being mulled for the project.

It may be noted that several attempts were made earlier to introduce similar smart cards for Chennai Metro and MTC but failed due to a delay in upgrading the ticketing device used in buses.