Niggles galore as Mumbaikars come out for local train pass

A woman gets her vaccination certificate and photo ID verified at Sion station. Pic/Atul Kamble

As civic counters were set up at 109 stations to verify vaccination certificates of commuters to enable them to buy train passes, crowds gathered in the later part of Wednesday. By 7 pm, 16,798 season tickets had been sold by Central Railway and 6,453 by Western Railway. While the process was a breeze for many, others struggled as they forgot to carry copies of the mandatory documents. The technical software glitch was rectified on Wednesday so now passes will be valid from August 15.

Till 7 pm, 23,251 passes were issued across the city.

The state government has allowed fully vaccinated citizens with a 14-day cooling period to use local trains from Independence Day. To reduce the rush on that day, train passes are being issued in advance. Commuters must get copies of their vaccination certificate and ID proof stamped by the civic staff at the stations before proceeding to buy the passes.

A civic official stamps the documents of a commuter at Kurla station on Wednesday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

On WR, about 80 booths were set up and 323 RPF personnel were deployed in two shifts to ensure smooth working. Of the passes sold, 975 were for 1st class and the remaining were for 2nd class commuters. The highest number of passes - 449 - were purchased at Borivli station until 4 pm, said officials.

CR stations collectively have 340 booking counters and 145 booths, with Dombivli station topping the sale of season tickets at 880 by 4pm.

Also read: Mumbai local trains: Teachers unhappy over the ‘wasted' four days

Many commuters were disappointed that they needed to buy a monthly pass even for a single journey.

Though several citizens were eager to get a pass, which will allow them to use the city's lifeline, and queued up at Borivli station, many were turned away by the help desk team from R-Central ward due to fake certificates and for carrying only the soft copies of photo IDs and not bringing original documents. Many who have got only one dose also showed up in the hope of getting the passes.

Commuters queue up for verification at Dadar station. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Gajendra Desai was among those who were not allowed to buy passes. He had brought along an antigen-negative report. A help desk staffer tried to explain to him but after some time asked him to go to another desk. "I work as a society manager at Masjid Bandar. I changed two buses daily, from Borivli to Andheri and Andheri to Masjid. I have taken the vaccines, I need a travel pass but they are not allowing me," said Desai, a senior citizen.

Borivli resident Siddhesh Shah, who travels to his workplace at Bhayandar daily by auto or bike, was told to wait for a few more days. "A train pass will solve the travel woes," he told mid-day and added, "I have taken the second dose on August 4 and think they will allow me to travel after August 15. But they give a stamp only after the completion of 14 days. I tried my luck but in vain."

V K Bhimani, another elderly person, couldn't get his certificate verified as the image of the QR code was cut on one side.

A few showed fake certificates

Sharing their experience, a BMC employee deployed at Borivli station said, "Some people are coming with fake certificates. In other cases, the QR code image is not proper. Two people came with test reports. Many are coming with soft copies of Aadhaar cards, some don't carry their original IDs. It is the first day and people have many doubts."

Verification process is on at Borivli station on Wednesday. Pic/Satej Shinde

There are two booths at Borivli West where three employees were checking the papers. On the east side, two civic staffers were entrusted with the verification duty. A corporation employee said people are eager to get their papers stamped, but many are unaware that the railways won't not issue a single ticket and they will have to take a monthly pass.

‘It was quite smooth'

At Thane station, Gopal Bafna looked excited. "I was one of the first ones to get through and for me it was a smooth process. I managed to get a season ticket too. The Thane Municipal Corporation stamped my certificate and authenticated it after which I got the ticket from the counter." Fellow Thanekar Mukesh Thakkar said he was a senior citizen and was keen to get a pass. "At least I will be able to travel by train now and avoid the road," he said.

No rush at Andheri station

Andheri station did not see too much crowding at the help desks set up by K west ward office. While many turned up to enquire for relatives, there were no long queues. K west ward officer Prithviraj Chavan who had stationed about 10-odd ward employees at the station said, "Depending on the response, we will decide on whether to reduce or increase staff at stations to help citizens."

358 help desks

In BMC limits, that is till Mulund, Mankhurd and Dahisar, a total of 358 help desks have been set up at 53 railway stations and a total of 18,324 train passengers' certificate verification was done.

16,798
No. of passes issued by CR till 7 pm

6,453
No. of passes sold by WR till 7 pm

109
No. of stations where BMC kiosks have been set up