New Delhi, Jul 6 (IANS): The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday introduced India's first FASTag or Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based parking facility to reduce the time for entry and payment. This has been done to come up with similar facilities at more of Delhi Metro's parking spaces across the city and the National Capital Region (NCR).

This exclusively cashless parking facility located at gate number-6 of the Kashmere Gate station can accommodate 55 four-wheelers and 174 two-wheelers.

The entry or exit and payment of four-wheelers can be done through the FASTag -- an electronic toll collection system operated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

"The parking fee will be deducted through FASTag, which would reduce the time for entry and payment. Only the vehicles with FASTag would be allowed to park in this facility.

"The entry for two-wheelers can be done only by swiping the DMRC smart card," said the DMRC in a statement.

The smart card swipe is used only for registering the time of entry or exit and fare calculation as no money will be deducted from the card. "The parking fee can be paid by UPI apps through scanning the QR Code. In future, the payment can also be made through DMRC/NCMC cards."

The facility is a pilot project of the DMRC, the Metro rail service said. "Further, the DMRC is planning to set up similar systems at more of its parking facilities across Delhi-NCR."

In addition, dedicated Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes for auto, taxi and e-rickshaws were also inaugurated at the Kashmere Gate station as part of the Multi-Model Integration (MMI) initiative.

"These lanes will enable a smooth movement of vehicles and enhance the last mile connectivity at the station," the DMRC statement said.

In the second phase of MMI which is under construction, there will be a food court (to be established by Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited) and also a bus terminal (three lanes with five bus capacities each) to be constructed by DMRC.

After completion of the second phase, Kashmere Gate will be a transportation hub integrating metro connectivity on Line-1, Line-2 and Line-6 with parking facility, Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) Kashmere Gate, City Bus Service and taxi, auto, e-rickshaw services.

These facilities will provide a major relief to commuters travelling from or to the Kashmere Gate station, which is connected to a major ISBT and several offices around the station. The Kashmere Gate station is the only triple-interchange station of the DMRC and is among the busiest stations of the network.

Both the facilities-- FASTag or UPI-based parking and Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes -- were started at Kashmiere Gate metro station in the presence of DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh and senior DMRC and National Payments Corporation of India officials.