Passengers demand UPI payments for KKRTC and KSRTC

Kalaburagi: The successful integration of UPI payments in the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) has led to smoother transactions, increasing the number of cashless payments even in rural areas. However, passengers are questioning on social media why Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) have not yet implemented UPI payments, despite their evident success.
Then NWKRTC MD Bharat S had taken special interest in incorporating the UPI payment system from Sept 2023 on a pilot basis and had extended it to all its 50 depots by Feb.
Nammuru Mysuru, a Facebook page, has alleged that if passengers pay Rs 200 cash, KSRTC conductors return only Rs 10 instead of Rs 13 for a ticket costing Rs 187 between Mysuru and Bengaluru. The page reveals that when a passenger gave a Rs 500 note for two seats (Rs 374), the conductor returned only Rs 120 instead of Rs 126. As many as 23,000 Facebook users have liked this post and questioned in 6,500 comments why KSRTC, having its headquarters in IT city Bengaluru, is lagging in adopting the UPI payment system. Over 2,500 netizens have shared this post on their walls.
A conductor in the Vijayapura KKRTC division said that it's been difficult to return a change of Rs 9 for tickets valued at Rs 61, 71, 81, etc. "Many passengers won't be able to furnish the change of Re one. Hence, we often pay Re one from our earnings. If the UPI payment system is adopted, this problem will be minimised at least with passengers who are acquainted with the UPI apps," he opined.
Sunit Kulkarni, president of Kalyana Karnataka Grahakara Vedike, who works in Bengaluru, commented that sharing the technology is just a question. "As it is already successful in NWKRTC, the KSRTC and KKRTC need not put additional efforts into introducing the system," he opined.
KSRTC MD V Anbukumar and KKRTC MD M Rachappa were unavailable for comment.