ST-Pay Lite — UPI-Based Bus Ticketing for Public Transport
ST-Pay Lite is a lightweight, QR-powered digital ticketing solution for government buses, designed for quick UPI-based fare collection. It eliminates the need for cash, reduces conflicts over change, and empowers both passengers and conductors with a simple, fast, and affordable system.
This project demonstrates how modern digital payments (UPI) can be integrated into India’s public transport with minimal infrastructure change and maximum accessibility.
Problem :- In many Indian states, including Maharashtra, public buses still rely solely on cash for fare collection. This leads to:
Frequent conflicts between passengers and conductors due to lack of change
No digital trail of fare collection or ticket issuance
Delays during boarding, especially during rush hours
Manual ticketing process is inefficient: → The conductor must approach each passenger, ask for their source and destination, collect cash, print a physical ticket, and hand it over — this consumes valuable time and energy throughout the trip
ST-Pay Lite enables digital ticketing using QR codes and UPI apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and Amazon Pay. The system supports:
Seamless UPI-based payments via Razorpay
Auto-generated 4-digit ticket IDs
Simple conductor dashboard to verify paid passengers
Admin panel to manage routes and generate QR codes
No hardware installation is required — the entire system works via smartphones and web dashboards.
🔧 Key Features
✅ Passenger Ticketing
Scan QR → Pay via UPI → Get a digital ticket with a 4-digit ID
Option to skip payment for manual verification if needed
✅ QR Code Integration
Each bus route has a static QR code generated by admin
QR links to a route-specific booking page
✅ Conductor Dashboard
View list of active ticket IDs (acts as a digital OTP) for quick passenger verification
Instantly validate tickets — no scanning or app installation required for the conductor
✅ Admin Panel
Add and manage bus routes
Generate and distribute route-specific QR codes
Access records of all ticket transactions
🛠️ Tech Stack
Layer Technology Frontend React + Tailwind CSS (CDN) Backend Firebase Firestore + Functions (emulator) QR Code Gen react-qr-code Payments Razorpay UPI API Handling Axios