Public transport users in Sofia can now make contactless fare payments across the Bulgarian capital’s metro system by tapping their contactless credit or debit card or NFC mobile wallet on a reader installed on station turnstiles.

The city’s Urban Mobility Center initially rolled out the open loop contactless ticketing system on buses, trams and trolleybuses in August. It has also now added fare capping so passengers using the system to pay for three or more journeys on any form of public transport on a single day are only charged the price of a daily ticket. sofia public transport payment

“You can now validate your journey with a bank card, regardless of its issuer, at all metro stations,” the Urban Mobility Center says.

“It is enough simply to bring your card close to the reader in order to enter.

“The price of a single trip is BGN1.60 (US$1) and if you travel more than three times during the day — including a combination with overland transportation — the system automatically charges the price of a daily ticket of BGN4 (US$2.40), regardless of how many times you use public transport.

“The only condition is that you use the same bank card throughout the day.”

More than 2,000 metro passengers a day made contactless fare payments with their credit or debit card while the system was being tested at 16 stations before the full rollout, the public transport operator adds.

O-CITY and DSK Bank’s team up to launch contactless payments in Bulgarian public transport and to accelerate the drive towards smart city and digital transformation sofia public transport payment

BPC’s smart city payment division O-CITY has partnered this summer with DSK Bank in Bulgaria which is delivering the new ticketing system overseen by the Sofia Urban Mobility Center.  Together the companies have accelerated  Sofia’s digital payment transformation in mass transit by enabling an open loop contactless EMV card to pay directly into the transport vehicle, which allows travelers across the capital to experience contactless payments.

Passengers can now pay using contactless Visa or Mastercard bank cards issued by any bank or fintech company across the world or respective NFC mobile wallet, in 3,900 validators installed across the capital’s public ground transportation system including buses, trams, trolleybuses. The project will see 450 stations across the metro system accept payments in a second phase. With Visa Mass Transit and Mastercard Pay As You Go solutions, a payment can be processed in milliseconds and reduces the need for cash, as the bank card can be used as a ‘ticket’ on public transport.

With a population of 1.3 million people and around 0.5 million guests daily, Sofia sees its residents and visitors getting a superior travel experience which will continue to be improved with the new payments system.

O-CITY ensures passengers can seamlessly and securely tap- to-pay with their bank card in public transport or any other means of payment, wallet, QR code and more. The rollout has come at a time when the pandemic has boosted the adoption of contactless payments everywhere in response to social distancing and contact-free precautions.

In addition, O-CITY’s  platform delivers a supplemental web functionality that enables travelers to create a web profile online and register their cards via the Sofia Urban Mobility Center (SUMC), where they can receive access to their travel history and charges applied as well as other fiscal information. Using a BPC eCommerce solution for DSK Bank, the SUMC web portal provides functionality to pre-purchase a travel subscription on close loop transport cards, completing the full scale of digital payments for public transport services for the new ticketing system in Sofia. sofia public transport payment

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