The BEST "Smart Card"

Update: As of mid-2010, this facility was withdrawn by B.E.S.T.  Early 2011, the B.E.S.T. made some significant changes to the smart card system. New readers cum ticket vending machines  were introduced with the conductors (these machines are much lighter than the heavy metal ticket boxes they used to carry earlier). So, the below post is now no longer valid.
 
The B.E.S.T. (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) "Smart Card" was introduced about a month ago; it was supposed to offer commuters various benefits including the hassle of finding change to buy tickets during their daily commute. After some inquiries with various people including the pass vendor at a bus depot, I finally bought a one-month bus pass that I thought would help me get the touted "benefits".

For the consumer, the process is simple: Go to a bus depot that offers these "Smart Cards". Decide which route you want to travel on (starting and end points plus the route) and decide the period of validity (weekly, monthly, quarterly). "Route" here does not necessarily mean the bus route number, but in the most usual cases, a route could be referred to with the bus route number(s). The person at the counter (probably a sub-contractor's employee) has an "Intel WebTerminal" with only a keyboard and a monitor with the appropriate network connection. The mouse pad is embedded onto the keyboard. After determining the fare, you are asked to pay the amount. For the monthly fare, it works to slightly more than what you would have paid for a 6-day-week 2-way daily commute. For example, if the regular one-way fare is Rs. 9, then the monthly fare is Rs. 480. Buying a quarterly pass would result in savings. An I-card with the holder's photograph stamped by the BEST (ala Railway Season pass) is supposed to be carried along with the "Smart Card".

To use it, one needs to simply board the bus and give the Card to the conductor, instead of buying a ticket. Technically, the destination must also be stated. The conductor has a clumsy card reader with which the conductor can check if the Card is valid (date wise) as well as whether it is valid on the route of the bus.

This last point had me thinking: I thought the card reader would have some complex "graph-based" implementation; Prof. Abhiram Ranade of CSE, IITB and his "Mumbai Navigator" did ring a bell. I thought the logic might compare the route (points) on the Card with the route of the bus that the reader is used in and it would tell if the pass is valid on the route or not.

It turns out that the reader is rather dumb, heck, even the "Smart Card" seems to be dumb. The Card seems to be nothing more than a storage area where certain information (the expiry date, the source and destination, as well as the I-card number) is stored. The reader simply reads this information and displays it on its screen. In addition, there is a green LED that glows to show whether the card is not past its expiry date (a red one probably glows to show it has expired...there's one more LED that has the label "Concession").

That's where the fun begins: it is now up to the conductor, I guess, whether to consider whether the Card is valid on the route of the bus or not. Given the complexity of the various bus routes, it seems strange as to how the conductor could make a guess. For example, if I have a bus pass from Powai to Vashi, does it mean I can go to Airoli. (There is at least one bus that goes from Powai via Airoli as well as the normal way via Ghatkopar). I have not tried this out, but I'm sure there might be conductors that object. For example, suppose with the Powai to Vashi Smart Card, I travel from Bhandup to Sonapur on a bus that goes from Sion to Mulund. How on earth would the conductor know that there is a route that exists that takes passengers from Powai to Vashi via Bhandup, Sonapur and Airoli. On one occasion, I even had a bus conductor ask me if the Card was valid for that route!.

The only benefits that I have gotten so far are the ability to use it on a wide variety of buses on the same route and unlimited number of commutes on the route.

There are some disadvantages with this:

1. I used to rely on the BEST conductors to give me change (ATMs just dispense in multiples of 100s and the BEST conductors - especially those on the night buses - usually oblige passengers). Of course, I could still stick a Rs. 100 note and ask the conductor to give me change, but my collection of coins / notes seem exhausted just when I need them.
2. The reader is too clumsy to use and it takes the conductor anywhere between 10 to 15 seconds to check the Card. That is too much of time - in crowded buses, conductors usually don't bother to check the Card at all.
3. The ticket collectors have no way to identify where a passenger with a Card got in; the physical ticket used to have a punch to indicate where a passenger boarded the bus.
   

The Smart Card proudly proclaims "Mumbai BEST / Mumbai Suburban Railways". I wonder what that "Railways" part is for; it might be for the upcoming Metro Rail. With the Smart Card looking real dumb, I wonder how long would take a hacker (well, "cracker" for purists) to fake the details on the Card.

Update (2007-December-15):
For some reason, this post is getting read a lot. I thought I must update this to put in some more information. Here are some more points regarding this "Smart Card":

• For about Rs. 800 a month, one can load the "card" with an "all-route travel" option. With this, the commuter can travel anywhere, any number of times using any B.E.S.T. bus (except for the air-conditioned ones).
• There was news a few weeks back that the B.E.S.T. Smart Card could be used to buy tickets from the newly installed "Ticket Vending Machines" on the Mumbai suburban railways. The railways have come out with their own version of the "smart card", but it works differently than the B.E.S.T. one. The B.E.S.T. general manager had announced that they were "trying to integrate" the usage of the B.E.S.T. card on the railway system, but I have not heard anything after that.

Update (2008-February-18):

• It finally happened...but it took one year. One conductor declared that my pass was not valid on a (section of a particular route). I asked him what took them so long to find out; after all, I'd been travelling on that route for nearly an year! Anyways, to avoid all controversies there after, I've changed my bus pass for an all-suburban route validity. More information about this is in this post.

Update (2008-July-20):
Information on how to use the "SmartCard" for suburban railway travel is in this post.