e-ticket system in transport sector fails to make any headway

Move to introduce electronic ticket system by the government in transport sector has failed due to non-cooperation by the transport workers to use it.
Under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), the tickets based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), named S-pass, has been installed in four bus routes of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), in one commuter train of Bangladesh Railway (BR) and two hospitals.
Officials said since the launch of the ICT ticket project in 2009, 28,000 S-pass of Sony Technology were distributed among commuters with the technical support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
They said at the beginning it was found that BRTC's income from a single route was increased by 33 per cent for using S-pass.
However, sources said after completion of pilot projects in both BRTC and BR services, use of the card has almost been stopped.
They said due to non-cooperation of the transport workers and officials involved in ticket selling and buying, the card use could not be popularise among commuters.
"if the card is not accepted at all, it is hard to maintain its use regularly," said Mofazzal Hossain, a commuter who avails the commuter train from Gazipur daily.
He said on different pretexts ticket checkers refuse to accept S-pass.
When asked about the BRTC's income after using the cards for several years, officials, however, could not provide any data.
They said it is hard to collect related information since the buses are running through outsourcing.
"At present, the BRTC gets a lump sum amount from the bus lease holders who show that the cards are in use," said an official involved in the project preferring not to be named.
Official record showed that S-pass was introduced on BRTC routes of Abdullahpur-Motijheel, Mirpur-Motijheel, Mohammadpur-Motijheel and Nabinagar-Motijheel since the project was launched in 2009.
However, it is only used in AC service of the BRTC run buses between Gazipur-Motijheel as its ticket counters and stoppages are maintained.
The e-ticket service was totally closed on the routes of Mohammadpur and Nabinagar. N-Wave Company (Bangladesh) Ltd, vendor of the ICT ticket project, said out of the S-pass cards distributed, 1000 to 1500 are used daily.
The government has taken the initiative to introduce e-ticket system with the help of Japanese experts in the commuter service as part of its digitalization effort as the country will have to go for the ICT ticket system after the launching of mass transit services including metro rail.
Experts said efforts were made to popularise S-pass among commuters to check misappropriation of money that are pocketed by transport workers and  officials involved in selling tickets.
They said due to lack of political commitment, strong network and syndication of workers the S-pass card in the transport services could not be introduced. Some unscrupulous officials are also involved in the racket for their personal benefit.  
S-pass is popular in many countries of the world for keeping record of passengers in all kinds of transports. It is also used for other purposes including credit and debit cards for use in shopping malls and paying different bills.