Patience is a virtue that is thinning these days. Especially with us youngsters, things need to be done fast. Very fast. In a developing country like India, with all its red tapism and bureaucracy, 'fast' is one word easier said than done. After a hard day at work the last thing you need is the grumpy long queue in the railway station ticket counter, believe me it is NOT a pretty thing. However Indian Railways has come up (or tried to come up) with a solution (?) by unveiling the all new UTS app, which is its official application for booking suburban unreserved tickets. The app is available on Android and Windows smartphones and can be downloaded via play store or windows store.
The application targets an inexplicably large audience, the working class in suburban India. So the stakes and expectations are extremely high. The application lets you book tickets easily, without having to queue in front of the ticket counters, at least that was the expectation.
When you open the app, you get a page which prompts you to sign up/ login using your existing account. It allows the registration of users who are 17 years or more of age. You have to register your mobile number, your name, area of residence (only Mumbai and Chennai are available as of yet) and any ID proof as shown in the image below.
The Major services offered in the application are:
- Booking and cancellation of suburban tickets
- Recharging, checking and surrendering of R-Wallet (which is a close wallet system introduced by Railway for reservation purposes)
- Printing of tickets
One of the major drawbacks of the app is that the service is available only in Mumbai and Chennai. It is difficult to comprehend the implemented logic in leaving larger cities. I have nothing against Mumbai and Chennai, they are really big cities, but why leave metro cities like Kolkata and even the national capital Delhi.
Some media have celebrated the app launch as sort of an E-ticket revolution but it does not turn out to be one. More over nothing is clear. Google play store says that the app can be used to generate E-tickets which is equivalent to printed tickets while the app's terms and conditions states clearly that the journey is permitted only with a printed ticket and you can take the printouts from the ATVM machines. Again E-ticket facility (according to play store) is available only in Chennai division. Now to consider the public opinion 3 out of 5 people who used this app complaints of development issues, frequent crashes, GPS issues. Many have reported a 'session error' bug which does not allow them to log in to the app. The payment can be done only through R-wallet, which can be recharged through UTS counters or through the Website (for which there is an additional charge of Rs.11.24 collected towards bank charges and service charge).However the new update added wallet recharge section in the app.
We have to give it to the Indian railway for this initiative. This is, no doubt, an extreme time saving movement but they were brutally let down by the developers as it turns out to be. The unavailability of E-ticket facility also destroys entire purpose of the app. Currently the app (when it does work) helps to transfer the queue from the ticket counter to the ATVM machine.
If you are not a resident of Mumbai or Chennai, then the app is of no use to you, unless you have lots of free space on your phone and intend to kill it, bit by bit(the app is not that large ,2.46 MB to be precise). And if you are a resident of the above cities you can try the app but you will find that there are lots of improvements and fixes to be made.
It has now started e ticket. The app searches for your location.the saddest part is it keeps searching but never locates you. Hate this application.
ReplyDeleteI tried several times and never succesed booking any ticket.... Always keep searching GPS.
ReplyDeleteI tried several times and never succesed booking any ticket.... Always keep searching GPS.
ReplyDeleteAfter the last update I am not able book the ticket which searching for GPS and showing the error message
ReplyDeleteAFTER LAST UPDATE SEARCHING GPS AND SHOWING ERROR
ReplyDeleteCUSTOMER CARE NOT PICKING UP PHONE
FOR THIS ONLY THE RAILWAY NEED PRIVATIZATION
THROUGH OUT THESE EMPLOYEES WHO ARE NOT RUNNING WITH TIME
AFTER LAST UPDATE SEARCHING GPS AND SHOWING ERROR
ReplyDeleteCUSTOMER CARE NOT PICKING UP PHONE
FOR THIS ONLY THE RAILWAY NEED PRIVATIZATION
THROUGH OUT THESE EMPLOYEES WHO ARE NOT RUNNING WITH TIME
I am still not able to book even a single ticket with this app. Worst thing is that my Rs. 100 are stuck in the wallet. Any idea how to i get these back? What is their customer care number?
ReplyDeleteIn my experience it's a lousy app. Tried using it recently and realised that it's faster to stand in a queue and buy a physical ticket, which took 15 minutes during which time the app had not finished syncing list of stations !
ReplyDeleteGood intentions but bad execution.
so far i never faced any problem. always got the ticketing done-be in mumbai or chennai. but today, i got the ERROR MESID UTS01. I DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THIS ERROR. Could anyone explain. also, the helpline # 7045033646 is always switched off. the mail sent to them got no response.
ReplyDeleteYes I am also getting same problem
ReplyDeleteThe smart card is far better. There you get a bonus added to your recharged value. But R wallet has to go a long way to become a dependable, convenient and customer friendly. The additional charges to recharged value is very high almost works out to ₹11.50 for a meagre ₹100 recharge. It is not worth the convenience it affords to the passenger. Railway admin/CRIS has to bring down the additional charges to not more than 2% to popularise the facility. SANKARAN R Wallet Customer.
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