Cards in public transport to be introduced until September 1

Mayoralty of Chisinau intends to introduce cards as a new payment method in public transport starting August 1, or September 1, the latest. The interim Mayor Vasile Ursu declared on Monday, July 17 that the local authorities consulted a specialized Israeli company, which offers this kind of services. Ursu states that the Mayoralty is seriously concerned with this new payment method. At the moment the financing source for the project is searched and after authorities will find a protection method for the cards so that “no one could produce them at home”. Ursu declared previously that the new payment method in public transport is necessary, because when paying with cash “a part of the money paid by passengers is not going to the budget of transport operators but remains in the conductors’ pockets”. According to the interim mayor in order to implement the new mechanism, the mayoralty will spend about MDL 200,000. When this project will be accepted by the Chisinau Municipal Council the cost of the cards will be settled depending on the number of passengers. On Thursday, July 20, CMC will examine the issue of increasing tariffs in the public transport according to the provisions of the new tariff estimation Methodology approved within the last meeting of the Council. According to estimations the tariffs in the public transport are higher compared with the ones proposed by transporters – 1.5 lei for a travel by trolleybus, 2 lei – bus and 3 lei for a travel by minibus.