Bengaluru: After KSR Bengaluru became the first railway station in the country to deploy mobile unreserved ticket vendors, South Western Railway (SWR) will now expand the feature to five other railway stations in the city.Officially termed Mobile Unreserved Ticketing System (M-UTS) Sahayaks, these vendors carry a smartphone and a bluetooth printer connected to it. Passengers can either pay by cash or UPI directly to the vendors who can provide unreserved tickets for all trains and platform tickets.Their deployment reduces queuing at limited ticket counters, especially during peak hours when the need for unreserved and platform tickets is higher. According to SWR officials, more than 25,000 unreserved tickets are sold daily in KSR Bengaluru alone.KSR Bengaluru was among the five stations across the country handpicked by the Railway Board for the pilot project in Oct last year, with four sahayaks (vendors) deployed to distribute tickets.As part of the current expansion, 36 more sahayaks will be selected by SWR and will also be stationed in Yeshwantpur, SMVT Bengaluru, Kengeri, Bangarpet and KR Pura railway stations. KSR Bengaluru will get nine more under this phase. The SWR commercial department has already invited applications from public to become sahayaks.Regarding the selection process, priority will be provided to retired railway employees, though any permanent resident of Bengaluru can apply for the role. The sahayaks, once selected, will have to invest in the printer, smartphone and internet using their own money.Commission-based payThey will be rewarded on a commission model based on the number of tickets sold and the journey length. For a journey ticket up to 150km, the vendors will pocket 3% of the fare. The share will be reduced to 2% if the journey is between 150 and 500km. For any journey above 500km, the commission will only be 1% of the fare.Railway station – No. of SahayaksYeshwantpur – 7 SMVT Bengaluru – 6 KR Pura – 6Kengeri – 4Bangarpet – 4
