The Unreserved Ticketing system (UTS) has been gaining momentum among the suburban commuters for purchasing seasonal passes as well as train tickets in the city. The long queues of commuters waiting to purchase tickets in front of counters have been slowly decreasing, thereby removing the pressure on the railway officials to have additional ticket counters in several railway stations. 

The UTS launched by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) has made vast strides in digital purchasing of tickets without the need to wait at the counters, as the mobile ticketing sales through UTS has almost touched 15% in Chennai division. In the previous financial year the mobile ticketing sales had only 12.30% of the total tickets sold. 

M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said the UTS app has come a long way since its launch, app with several improvements being made, particularly with regard to recharging of the wallet. In Chennai division the number of tickets issued through the mobile app stands at 16 lakh for the month of June against a total of 1.12 crore train tickets sold. Whereas the average sales of mobile tickets last year stood at only 13 lakh against the monthly total sales of 1.08 crore. 

The UTS is not only used for purchasing suburban train tickets and seasonal passes but also unreserved tickets for travelling in mail and express trains. The Southern Railway through the promotion of UTS and the installation of the automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs) in several railway stations including Mambalam, Ambattur, Guindy, Beach, Moore Market complex station, and Egmore, has reduced the need for opening additional ticket counters mainly during peak hours and make better use of the ticket issuing staff by posting in lesser important railway stations in the city. 

S. Amarnath, who travels on the west section from MMC to Thiruninravur, said before the launch of UTS, the ticket counters were packed at the MMC railway station. Tension ran high among commuters for getting, and heated exchanges at the counters were common. But since the launch of the UTS the tickets could be easily purchased either through the mobile app or by scanning the QR code fixed at the ticket counters through the app.  

While the UTS has been operating seamlessly to help commuters purchase season passes and train tickets, the commuters find the mobile app not very customer friendly for the commuters having seasonal passes to travel in other routes. 

S. Purushoth, a regular traveller on the Mass Rapid Transit system (MRTS), rued that though the season passes are issued on the app, it is shown as a separate ticket, which is a drawback. In case of a commuter having a season ticket from Perungudi to Beach and wants to travel till Avadi, he cannot use the season ticket and instead has to purchase a new ticket from Perungudi to Avadi. 

The suburban commuters also want the QR code to be pasted at the entrance of the railway station in addition at the ticket counters as it would help save the commuters to make a long walk to the counters in some railway stations.