Despite cash in circulation skyrocketing in India, Dehli Metro decided to maintain its cashless stance in some of its most popular stations ahead of reopening on Monday 7th September. The mode of transport was back on track after being out of service for five months due to the covid-19 pandemic. While many rejoiced, they were soon met with severe disruptions: the cashless Metro stations were struggling to support cashless payments.
Dehli Metro made the decision to make 10 of their most popular Metro stations cashless in 2017, stating the reason was “to encourage people to embrace the Government’s vision of a cashless economy." According to Business Standard, many Metro users reportedly “faced problems buying new smartcards or getting them recharged through cashless modes due to network issues.”
The reported problems varied from lengthy payment processes or being charged for top-ups on their Metro smartcards that would then fail to appear on the card itself. The cashless issues were so problematic, Metro user Rohani Bansal ended up abandoning the service for alternative transport methods:
