The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) will become the first public transport body in the country to start rolling out One Nation, One Card. By November, this system will be ready, and will be implemented on a pilot basis. However, it will be available for wide use only by early next year. By this time, the Central government will have to finalise the nitty grittties of developing the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) for the same. On Monday, the BEST administration confirmed that they are on the verge on completing the adoption of the system at their bus depots. They are readying the hard drive, getting hand-held devices, and beginning training of their bus conductors and other staff, alongside rejigging their money collection methods and other technical details for smooth functioning once it becomes operational. "The pilot project will start by November," confirmed Surendra Bagde, General Manager, BEST Undertaking. OUT IN NOVEMBER By November, the system will be ready and implemented on a pilot basis. However, it will be available for wide use only by early next year. By this time, the Centre will have to finalise the nitty grittties of developing the National Common Mobility Card This will, in the long run, allow people to use a single card to travel anywhere across the country. There are over 10,000 bus conductors who will be provided with hand-held devices. The BEST officials said that this machine is likely to not only generate a paper ticket, but can also read the NCMC card with a simple tap. Meanwhile, sources in the BEST said that they are waiting for the NCMC card to be ready, which shall be done at the Centre's end. It is expected to come by early next year for the 25 lakh plus daily commuters of BEST. The government reportedly needs to finalise the banks with whom they will tie-up so that the day-to-day transactions can get directly transferred into it. Moreover, it will be similar to the Metro rail card, which is a store-value based card, thus allowing people to transfer money into it as and when it gets depleted. It would not be connected to bank accounts of those buying the NCMC card and shall instead operate on RuPay. This will, in the long run, allow people to use a single card to travel anywhere across the country. The Indian Railways are also simultaneously working on this for the suburban rail system, said a railway official.

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