Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited launches first-ever QR ticketing service on WhatsApp
Telugu Super news Bengaluru, October 31, 2022: WhatsApp and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) today announced a partnership to launch Namma Metro’s WhatsApp chatbot-based QR ticketing service. The chatbot is integrated with UPI powered payments on WhatsApp and will allow Namma Metro commuters to purchase tickets and recharge their metro travel pass right within WhatsApp. BMRCL is the first transit service globally to enable end-to-end QR ticketing on WhatsApp.
BMRCL’s WhatsApp chat bot is available in English and Kannada for all commuters of Namma Metro. To use the service, commuters need to simply send ‘Hi’ to BMRCL’s official WhatsApp chatbot number +9181055 56677 and choose from the various options such as:
- Recharge metro travel pass using payments on WhatsApp
- Purchase single journey ticket using payments on WhatsApp
- Access updated fare tables
- Select source and destination for the trip
- Check Metro Rail timetable and other information
The process of making the payment is a seamless experience that gives users the option to pay without leaving the WhatsApp chat interface. After choosing their travel details, users are given the option to pay using payments on WhatsApp by authenticating the transaction using their UPI pin.
Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp India said, “BMRCL’s QR ticketing service on WhatsApp will make travel and ticketing on the Metro extremely simple and convenient for the people of Bengaluru. This is yet another great example of how organizations across sectors, from the largest transportation service to the smallest retail business, can transform their customers’ experience using the WhatsApp Platform.”
A.S. Shankar, Executive Director (O&M), BMRCL said, “It is a proud moment for us as BMRCL becomes the first transit service globally to launch QR ticketing service on WhatsApp. Our constant endeavor is to make it easy for our citizens to use our services and with the help of a simple technology such as WhatsApp, we are able to build solutions that can be quickly adopted by our commuters. I encourage everyone to use this digital solution and experience the ease and convenience it will bring to their commuting experience with Namma Metro.”
The interface makes the user experience easy and interactive. Commuters can plan their transit on-the-go and make payments without leaving the WhatsApp chat. With user-safety at its core, ‘payments on WhatsApp’ is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI-PIN for each payment.
Raghu Ravinutala, CEO and Co-founder, Yellow.ai said, “Conversational AI-powered experiences nudging users from consideration to payments coupled with native WhatsApp payments is a game-changer in the conversational commerce space. Yellow.ai is proud to be facilitating this industry-first endeavour for BMRCL, and our platform is fully capable of supporting the needs of Namma Metro’s commuters at scale. We are confident that our Dynamic AI agent for BMRCL will successfully enable passengers to avail the benefits of WhatsApp in the most seamless way.”
Visit the link to explore and experience its end-to-end journey.