Pune: Commuters at the newly inaugurated underground Swargate metro station are facing issues in the online purchase of journey tickets compelling them to purchase them at the counters by paying cash. The station opened for commuters from Sunday after a virtual inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, those travelling in the last four days have observed that weak internet signals are hampering the process of online purchase of tickets.
Sumit Patil, who recently travelled from the station, said that as the ticket kiosks are located one level below the ground, commuters are not able to complete the transactions due to weak signals . Authorities should take stock of the situation at the earliest and try relocating the ticketing section one level up to the ground level to avoid hassles, he said. As per Maha Metro data, Swargate is the busiest of the three underground stations that were recently opened.
The daily footfall at Swargate has been around 10,000, followed by Mandai and Kasba Peth. Long queues were witnessed on the first two days. IT professional Sanket Joshi said that authorities should resolve the glitches at the earliest to ensure that commuters do not wait to complete the process.
"It is evident that the signal will weaken in the underground stretch. Metro officials and internet providers will have to boost the signals with adequate infrastructure," he said. Maha Metro officials said that they have initiated talks with internet providers to installing b.