Indian metro system to adopt mobile payments - the NFC way ...Don't we have easy solutions??

Came across the below article  @ www.mobilepaymentstoday.com where it seems Chennai Metro is planning to start NFC based Mobile ticketing system by 2015. http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/210941/Indian-metro-system-to-adopt-mobile-payments?rc_id=312

Few questions which rise as I read this article:

• Are we really ready/or will be by 2015 for NFC based Mobile Ticketing system? Do we really need NFC based Mobile Ticketing for daily commuters?

Am not really saying we are not tech savvy.. or by 2015 majority of the people will not know what NFC is all about.. but is this the right solution for the mass who will use the Metro Services. I feel getting ticket using SMS/Online application would be much easier as compared to expecting daily commuters will user the NFC based Mobile Ticketing system.

Also do daily commuters take tickets on a daily basis..?I don't think so..else we would have to increase the ticketing windows to 10 times the number we have today in Mumbai & Delhi. So this really does not solve the problem of long queues.

• Don't we have any simple way of enabling these mobile ticketets?

Agree having tickets using mobile would be a cool thing to do. Will reduce lot of hassles to commuters..need not to manage the tickets..etc etc..fine.. but can we not have a simple SMS based Mobile Tickets purchase system ...why are we not planning to levarage systems like IMPS (P2M to be specifc) which are in place today which can removes the hassles of long queues at ticketing windows ...managing exact change at the ticketing windows etc.

Do we have the end user segment for such services who will be using NFC enabled phones in India.

I think we are some way getting swayed by the so called "tech savvy - NFC" solution which are really not going to help the masses in India for such requirements. Its hight time we should think practically and have solutions which meets the needs of the masses rather then investing in high end technology solution which are not going to be of real use to the masses in India.


On the other hand remove the mobile from NFC and see how Kenya is using this NFC in a simple way to pay for bus tickets.