The Chisinau City Hall has launched the second stage of the e-ticketing pilot project in municipal public transport in partnership with VISA and Victoriabank. This time, there will be tested two types of electronic payment technologies. The mobile terminals of ticket conductors in trolleybuses and buses accept contactless payments with cards of any bank, of different payment systems, with the smartphone or another device outfitted with contactless technology. Also, the Tap to Phone technology enables conductors on the public transport to use smartphones as terminals and the commuters can swiftly and safely pay for trips by card, telephone, smart watch, fitness trackers or another device, IPN reports.
Mayor General Ion Ceban said the initiation of this project is a first step towers developing public transport in Chisinau by offering high-quality services to the citizens. With the support of the partners and the technologies implemented by VISA, this initiative can be later applied in accordance with the municipal public transport rules. During only several weeks of the start of the first stage of the project, about 15% (nearly 3,500) payments were made electronically. The authorities aim to raise the number of such payments to 30% during six months of the launch of the project.
Sergiu Stoianov, VISA development manager for Moldova, said the use of smart technologies in transport is a global tendency and these technologies should be fully used in public transport in Chisinau so as to offer comfort to travellers. At the second stage, 57 units of transport on trolleybuses routes No. 10, 22 and 30 and bus routes No. 2 and 5 will be equipped with mobile payment terminals for cashless payments.
Victoriabank president Bogdan Pleşuvescu said that these two innovative solutions ensure greater comfort for passengers and greater predictability in the management of routes and waiting time in transport stations. There will be applied classical contactless payments through mobile terminals and Tap to Phone that is a new technology enabling to transform the smartphones into payment terminals.
The users could also follow the trips and the route of vehicles through online applications available for iOS and Android.
Svetlana Chirva, VISA Regional Manager for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, stated that one of the global strategic directions of VISA is to develop smart cities. “We are sure that the achievement of this objective is closely ties to the transport component. Therefore, we are implementing over 500 transport projects all over the world. With contactless payments, the passengers can have a perfect experience of urban travel, reduce the use of cash to a minimum and remain safe this way,” stated Svetlana Chirva.
