Residents of the Bangladesh city of Dhaka soon may use contactless prepaid cards to pay bus fares, an official at private operator Suchana Associates Bus Co., tells PaymentsSource.
“We currently operate 60 buses on the Uttara-to-Azimpur route a day in the city of Dhaka and plan to introduce these prepaid integrated circuit cards on this route by the end of this month,” he says.
Consumers may load up to 500 takas ($US7 or 5 euros) on their cards.
N-Wave Co. Bd. Ltd., a local subsidiary of a Japanese technology vendor, is supplying the cards, according to the official. Users tap these cards on readers installed either on buses or at common ticket shops at different stops, the official says. "After that, passengers will receive a paper receipt for their journey,” he says.
The agency first will issue 1,000 cards for the route. It also is providing 17 locations where riders may buy tickets, the official says. Riders previously paid fares in cash.
Six other private bus operators in Dhaka are in talks to launch the system, and N-Wave has signed an agreement with Bangladesh Road Transport Corp. to introduce the card to five of its routes starting next month, according to local media reports. The government-owned operator will install this system on 100 new buses on these routes.
