Chennai Metro Rail commuters faced long queues at multiple stations on Saturday after online ticketing services, including QR tickets purchased through the CMRL mobile application, were temporarily disrupted. Chennai Metro Rail Limited advised passengers to use station ticket counters while the technical issue was being resolved.
The disruption affected commuters who rely on digital ticketing to avoid queues at stations. At St Thomas Mount Metro station, passengers reported that the sudden shift to counter-based ticketing was not matched by an immediate increase in arrangements to handle the additional crowd.
“Most of us have become dependent on QR tickets because they save time. When the online system stopped working, there was no clear arrangement at the counters to manage the additional crowd,” a passenger at St Thomas Mount station told DT Next.
Another commuter said the response at the station could have been better coordinated during the disruption. “The staff should have been trained to manage such technical disruptions. More counters should have been opened immediately when the online ticketing system went down,” the passenger said.
The incident highlighted the operational dependence of daily metro travel on digital ticketing systems. When the application-based service became unavailable, commuters had to rely on physical counters, resulting in queues at stations where passengers had expected to complete the ticketing process through their phones.
CMRL later announced that the technical glitch had been rectified within a couple of hours. The operator said online ticketing through the CMRL mobile application was functioning normally after the restoration of the service.
Passengers could also use Static QR, WhatsApp, Paytm and PhonePe for ticketing, according to the information issued by CMRL. These alternatives were available alongside station ticket counters after the online ticketing service was restored.
The disruption comes as Chennai Metro continues to use app-based and other digital ticketing options to reduce dependence on physical ticket counters. The passenger accounts from St Thomas Mount indicate that contingency arrangements at stations remain important when digital systems are temporarily unavailable. CMRL’s stated next step was the restoration and continued operation of online ticketing through its mobile application.
