Ride the Metro, Not the Line: Ticketing Goes App-Solutely Easy

Delhi Metro has made a big leap towards digital convenience by enabling passengers to buy metro tickets straight from a list of popular apps. In a bid to make public transport easier and save time waiting in queues for tickets, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has tied up with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Now, Delhi’s 6.5 million daily metro riders can purchase tickets using apps they already use for travel planning and ride-hailing.

Key Highlights

Metro tickets can now be booked through more than 10 widely used apps, including Google Maps, Redbus, Rapido, Chartr, EaseMyTrip, Highway Delite, Miles & Kilometres (via Telegram), NammaYatri, OneTicket, Tummoc, and Yatri Railways.

Suburbanites no longer have to go out of their way to download a standalone metro app; ticketing is built into platforms they already know and use for other travel purposes.

The shared system, based on SequelString AI, allows subway ticketing to be easily integrated into journey planners, ride-hailing, and travel portals.

Multi-modal trips are now simplified: for instance, a visitor traveling from Jaipur to Delhi can purchase both metro and bus tickets in one go on Redbus. In the same way, local passengers can use Rapido to reserve a bike taxi to a metro station, purchase a metro ticket, and schedule a ride from their destination station-all in one app.

The plan is intended to simplify the entire city commute, making public transport easier and more efficient for everyone to use.

The integration was initially soft-launched in November 2024 and is now completely rolled out on the mentioned platforms.

This digital evolution is anticipated to not only ease the ticketing system but also spur more to use public transport by eliminating friction points related to transit use.

Sources: The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Week