IBA Group in cooperation with Belarusian Railway and BPS-Sberbank, one of the largest banks in Belarus, launched a contactless payment solution on Minsk city railway lines. To date, the solution is functioning in a pilot mode. To pay fares, passengers need to tap a smart card, a smart phone or any other NFC-enabled device on a validator right in a train carriage.

The fare is the same as when using any other payment method. The validators are similar to those that are used in the surface transport of Minsk. The hardware is the same, while the software functionality was expanded to suit railway requirements.  Visa, Mastercard, and Belkart cards are accepted.

A passenger can view his or her travel history in their account on the website paybycard.by. It is also possible to receive an electronic receipt.

Svitlana Chyrva, Visa country manager in Ukraine and Moldova, and acting country manager in Belarus, said: “Taking into account extensive global and local expertise Visa has in the implementation of smart solutions for cashless payments in public transport, the development of contactless payments in public transport is one of our strategic priorities. Payment in transport with a payment card has previously proved itself to be a very convenient and demanded product. This is exactly what we see in Minsk, where over the past year the opportunity to pay for travel by a contactless payment card has become available in the metro and tram, and now in the city train. We are pleased to note that contactless payment for travel within the transport directly on the validator itself is a unique solution not only for Belarus, but also for the entire region. The speed with which the city opens up to accepting contactless payments for different types of transport speaks of the city’s progressiveness and openness to innovation. We are pleased to be a part of such important and convenient changes for residents.”

Nina Villems, Mastercard country manager for Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia, said: “High speed is a special value for those who live in a megalopolis. Now to travel by Minsk city railway lines, one doesn’t need to buy tickets. It is possible to use a Mastercard card that you typically use to pay for purchases. We are happy that more and more opportunities for modern, convenient, and secure payment methods are created in Belarus.

Vadim Smotryaev, solution architect and division director at IBA Group, added: “It is for the first time in the CIS that one can pay fares in a self-service mode right on a train.  I am proud that Belarus is leading the way in technology development.”