Project on payment of railway fares by contactless payment cards launched in real time mode

02-06-2021

2 June 2021, Baku: On June 2, 2021, the Central Bank, the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, Visa International and the International Bank of Azerbaijan OJSC (IBA) jointly held an opening ceremony on real-time launch of the project on payment of fares in suburban railways with contactless payment cards. Through the event, the public was informed about the possibility of contactless payment of fares by holders of cards issued by any bank of the country at all stations of the Absheron Ring Railway, that provides high-speed passenger transportation between Baku and Sumgait.

To note, the said project was launched last year under the auspices of the Central Bank in a pilot regime as part of creating an opportunity for payment of public transport fares with contactless payment cards provided for in the ‘State Program on expansion of digital payments in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2018-2020’ approved by Decree No 508 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated 26 September 2018. On the first stage of the project, it was possible to pay fares at two stations on the Baku-Sumgait route with contactless bankcards, and in the first months, it was possible to accept payments only with contactless cards issued by the IBA. Currently, fares can be paid in a cashless form at 14 stations of the circular railway using contactless payment instruments of all banks.

Fares can be made with contactless bankcards on two turnstiles at each station. The next stage of the project is to increase the number of turnstiles that allow payments by bankcards by the end of the year, depending on the frequency of use.

Expansion of innovative payment solutions on the railways both ensures convenience of passengers, and removes the need to purchase additional local cards, ‘replenish’ the balance of these cards through terminals. This innovation will make contactless payments more popular among the population, push the rise in use of contactless payment cards, expand the scope of digital payments, and ultimately create a digital payment environment and reduce the size of the cash economy. At the same time, successful implementation of the project on launch of the opportunity of accepting cashless payments on the railways will create favorable conditions for implementation of similar measures in other modes of public transport in the country.