In Irkutsk, launched a non-cash payment of travel in public transport

In the public transport of the city of Irkutsk launched a cashless fare. In this article we will try to understand how this system works, and whether it has prospects for the future.

On April 5, 16 vehicles were equipped with cashless fare devices: 12 buses 37 and 67 routes, 2 second trams, and two trolley buses 1 and 7k. This is a joint project of Sberbank and the MasterCard payment system. On vehicles with this method of payment, you can see a special sticker:


The design of the sticker is not the most suitable, for my friends it was associated with free WIFI on board the bus.

Going into the bus, you can see detailed instructions for payment of travel.
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You need to do the following:

1. Click on the green button.
2. Attach a contactless payment device to the screen, or insert a card with a chip into the card reader.
3. Take a check.

From the following it is clear that:

• Sberbank actively advertises payment with MasterCard cards (in the comments they write that Visa also works).
• Payment is made by any contactless accessory, or a credit card with a chip.
• The payment process is simple, and it is fully produced by the passenger, not the driver. This payment method should unload the queue.

At the end of the poster there is a note: in case an error “Your card in the stop list” appears, go here: link (for some unknown reason, the QR code leads to the page for the city of Voronezh).

From all the information it is clear that payments are made in the offline mode, i.e. the terminal accumulates payments, and at a certain moment it is connected to the network, and the data is sent to the bank. Thanks to this payment method, payments are made quickly (the terminal does not connect to the bank’s servers). The rate of payment increases, due to the lack of need to enter a PIN code (with contactless payment).

Why did I decide that payments are made offline? It's simple. In the poster and on the website mentioned about the stop list. The stop-list includes cards with a negative balance, as well as blocked cards. The terminal loads the stop list during the transfer of payments to the bank. Therefore, you should be careful! At the time of payment, the terminal is unable to check your balance. Do not pick up debt. Different banks apply different sanctions in this case.

From theory to practice. We sit in the 67 bus, drive to the desired stop, transfer the card to the driver, the driver is confused. He does not know what to do with the card. He said that he does not have the equipment (why then so many color posters on the bus that you can pay with a card?) If you look closely, you can notice the terminal lying in the driver’s cabin.


I do not know what to say about this. I had to pay the fare in cash. Perhaps the driver was not instructed, maybe the system is not working yet (Although the media claim that everything works, there were several reports about how they paid with a card.) In the evening I noticed another 67 bus, I did not have time for it. But in the window I saw how the terminal was affably installed near the window for payment of fare. Maybe it was just a particular bus. I will ride on different buses, search with a working terminal to check in which mode all the same operations take place (Online or Offline). In the first case, the time of printing the receipt and the arrival of the notice will match, otherwise not. I wanted to pay with a Yandex.Money MasterCard contactless card.

PS Just two years ago, devices were installed in all municipal transport for paying for travel, and checking the balance of transport cards. But it all ended in a bad circulation. Now all the devices are hanging with extinct lights. In March of this year, they kind of started issuing these e-cards to beneficiaries again, but I haven’t yet seen buses in the buses, not the terminals or anyone paying them.



Let's hope that this system will not die as the previous one, but will develop. Sberbank most likely this business will not abandon. If the system turns out to be in demand, then it will be launched throughout the municipal transport.

UPD: the second article , where it was possible to pay.