An automated payment system for travel should provide accurate data on passenger flow for each route while allowing a flexible tariff system. Travel costs will be determined by several criteria — such as travel duration or distance.
“Special terminals are to be installed on public transport, reading data from electronic cards, similar to those currently used on the metro, but more contemporary,” explains Vladimir Lezhnyuk, the Head of Minsktrans’ Department for Control and Automated Computing Systems. “Passengers won’t even need to take their card out of their pocket, since it activates within 10cm of the terminal. Boarding should be smooth, as there won’t be any ticket barriers. Reading devices will be installed inside every door, allowing us to enter via any door, not only the front.”
Are electronic travel tickets convenient for passengers? Of course, since you can easily see how many trips you’ve taken and it’s certainly convenient to use the same card for travel by bus or tram (the card covers bus travel for a whole month and ten uses of the tram). These electronic tickets will become operational not from the first day of the month, but from any day on which a ticket is activated. Controllers will still make checks to deter fare evasion.
