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Authorities at the Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) have given assurances that the plans to introduce e-ticketing on the passenger train service is still in the pipeline, BusinessDay checks last Monday has revealed.
An electronic ticket is the digital ticket equivalent of a paper ticket. The term is most commonly associated with airline issued tickets. Electronic ticketing for urban or rail public transport is usually referred to as travel card or transit pass.
Such e-Tickets can authorize the bearer to travel a set itinerary at a specific time (common for long-distance railroads), a set itinerary at any time (common for commuter railroads), a set itinerary at multiple times, or an arbitrary itinerary at specific times.
The last two categories are often called passes: the former is often sold as a discounted block of trips for commuters; the latter is often sold to vacationers,
Anonymous sources inside the NRC who declined to disclose their identity stated that the baring any technical hitches; this month may witness the setting up of functional web-based e-ticketing platforms for passenger trains in the country.
It would be recalled that two months ago, Fidet Okhiria, Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said the organisation would commence web-based ticketing nationwide this month to tackle the challenge of racketeering in stations.
Okhiria, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, said NRC has advertised for capable firms to handle the project. “We want to get a secured backbone to be handled by secured company. I understand the need for cyber security, so latest by end of March it will commence nationwide, and we are presently doing presentations’’.
The managing director disclosed that railway management have gotten so many companies showing interest in response to an advertorial for firms to declare their interest.
In January this year, officials at the Rigasa Railway Station of the Abuja-Kaduna rail lines were accused of hoarding tickets from intending purchasers, thereby subjecting them to unnecessary hardship.
The ugly situation which has become a recurring decimal where ticket sellers are heavily involved in racketeering have been greeted by a chaotic scenarios on many occasions where passengers that queued up were later seen running helter-skelter trying to obtain the ticket.
Last year, Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, ordered the immediate dismissal of 11 workers of the NRC over ticket racketeering following an unscheduled inspection to the Abuja-Kaduna rail stations on following complaints from passengers via social media. Those affected include, the station managers, porters and ticket officials at Idu and Rigasa rail stations, Abuja.
Reacting to reports that officials in Kubwa station sold tickets without available seat to passengers, Okhiria said standing in train was not new even if the passengers are notified, adding that such tickets do not carry a seat number but a standing ticket is written on it.
He said that even in developed countries like Europe, people stand. I have stood in London train; even here we tell passengers that there is no seat, if they like to stand.
“If you look at those tickets, we don’t give a seat number on those tickets, we write standing on it. It is voluntary; some of the passengers volunteer to stand instead of waiting for the next train. We don’t sell the standing ticket until 10 minutes to the train departure. It is not a mistake but we ensure that the person is aware that there is no seat,” he said.
In some countries, like Italy, and some local railways in Germany, conductors are not used. Instead passengers are expected to validate tickets in a special stamping machine before entering the train. A system of coupons that are validated with a special machine exists on the Mumbai Suburban Railway.
Increasingly, electronic tickets are being used as replacements for paper tickets. In India for instance, an SMS sent by the Indian Railways, along with a valid proof of identity is considered equivalent to a ticket as passengers with confirmed tickets will be allowed to transfer them to someone else, but only once.
MIKE OCHONMA
