Chennai Bus Pass Centres Restrict Service to Non-Smartphone Users; ‘Chennai One’ App Mandatory for Others
Chennai bus pass centres now issue monthly passes only to non-smartphone users, while others must use the Chennai One app for renewal and booking.
Arunkumar Gowrishankar 
A new rule has been introduced in Chennai regarding the issuance of monthly bus travel passes, with priority now given only to passengers who do not use smartphones.
The Metropolitan Transport Corporation operates city buses that are used daily by lakhs of commuters. To benefit regular travelers, monthly travel passes are issued at subsidized rates. Currently, passengers can travel on non-AC buses for ₹1,000 per month, while a ₹2,000 pass allows travel on all buses, including air-conditioned services.
More than 70,000 commuters are benefiting from these monthly passes.
To promote cashless and digital transactions, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority has introduced the Chennai One app. The app has already been downloaded by over 10 lakh users and enables passengers to book tickets for city buses, metro trains, and suburban rail services.
With the introduction of this digital system, monthly pass issuance centres are now catering only to people who use basic button phones or elderly passengers who are not familiar with Android smartphones.
Passengers using smartphones are being instructed to purchase and renew their monthly passes exclusively through the Chennai One app. This includes both ₹1,000 and ₹2,000 bus passes, as well as suburban train monthly passes.
Officials at bus pass centres across Chennai have begun informing commuters to switch to the app-based system from this month, marking a major shift toward digital ticketing in the city’s public transport network.
