Passengers wait to commute the Bengaluru Metro. Photo used for illustration purpose only.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
Bengaluru Metro passengers have been facing inconvenience since Friday (September 26, 2025) morning after the WhatsApp ticketing system developed glitches, displaying a pop-up message that the service was under maintenance. The disruption left many commuters, who rely on the feature for its ease of use, queuing at counters for tickets.
For many, the WhatsApp chatbot has been the preferred way to book tickets as it avoids waiting at queues and does not require daily use of a metro card. However, since the glitch began, passengers have been forced to turn to manual purchases.
“I usually travel from Peenya to Infantry Road three days a week. Since I don’t use the Metro every day, WhatsApp ticketing is the most convenient option. But from Friday morning, it stopped working and I had to stand in a long queue to get a ticket,” said Jayadeva Bolar, a commuter who has used the service for over a year.
Under maintenance
When passengers attempt to use the WhatsApp ticketing chatbot, they receive the automated message: “This service is currently under maintenance. We’ll be back soon. Thank you for your patience.”
A senior official of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) clarified to The Hindu that the problem did not originate from the corporation’s end. “The issue is not with BMRCL but with WhatsApp. We have been informed it is related to maintenance, and we are hopeful it will be resolved at the earliest,” the official said.
Since its launch in November, 2022, WhatsApp ticketing has been a flagship initiative for BMRCL. The corporation had claimed Namma Metro was the first transit system in the world to introduce a chatbot-based QR ticketing service. The chatbot offers commuters the option to converse in English and Kannada, buy QR tickets, recharge metro cards, access fare details, plan journeys, and find departure timings.
To strengthen digital access, BMRCL has also enabled ticketing through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Tickets are now available via nine consumer apps, besides the Namma Metro app, Paytm, and the WhatsApp chatbot (8105556677).
Published – September 27, 2025 01:19 pm IST
