Common card for public travel soon

Common card for public travel soon
By Joy Sengupta (Our staff reporter)
Published in Khaleej Times online 26 December 2007

DUBAI — Come June, people travelling in public buses would not have to stand in a queue waiting to pay to the driver in order to get into the bus. The ‘Check in-Check Out’ is arriving.


At present, people enter the bus through the front entrance, pay the money to the driver, get their tickets and then get seated. With the RTA announcing the ‘Unified Automated Card Project’ for all modes of public transport, RTA officials said commuters would soon be able to get into the bus from any of the entrances. Engineer Essa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, told Khaleej Times that the buses would be equipped with a machine at each entrance and commuters would need to simply waive their plastic cards while boarding and disembarking. The fare will be automatically deducted at the time of disembarking according to the programmed fare table.

“This system is called the Check in-Check out system and would be operational by June next year. Soon we would be having all kinds of public buses like the double decker, articulated types etc. And these buses would be huge ones with more than two doors. These buses are expected to remain full all the time and the driver collecting the tickets after receiving the cash is a long process which could consume a lot of time. Each of the doors would have a machine installed for the commuters.”

“Whenever a commuter enters the bus, he just needs to put his Plastic Card in front of these machines. The machines would automatically scan the card. Then, when the commuter reaches his destination, he again needs to put the card in front of the machine. The machine would in turn calculate the number of kilometres travelled and deduct the fare from the card. We are sure that the Check in-Check out system would be of great help to the commuters as well as the drivers,” he said.

The RTA has already announced the introduction of a Unified Automated Card Project which would cover all modes of transport, including buses, taxis and abras, and parking. The project costing Dh102 million would be completed in phases.

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