You're reading: Kyiv rolls out new ticket system on 9 bus routes

On June 1, new tickets and electronic ticket punchers were introduced on nine bus routes in Kyiv in a bid to prevent an estimated $15,000 in daily losses due to forgeries.

The new lilac and black tickets now are punched with the bus route number, date and time of validation, and cannot be used twice. In addition, the new punchers don’t accept old tickets.

Mykolay Lambutsky, who heads Kyiv’s vast bus, trolleybus and tramcar transportation system at Kyivpastrans, hailed the new electronic ticket punchers for their ability to crack down on professional
freeloaders.

“An ordinary hand-punch has six combinations in the punched holes. Knowing this, stowaways carry six validated tickets with each combination. Because of them, we lose at least 10% of daily revenues
($15,000),” Lambutsky told Vesti daily. “To forge new tickets is impossible, so fake tickets will disappear. It’s also insures passengers. If a man breaks his leg due to a driver’s maneuver, the
old tickets won’t prove anything.”

The new tickets, instead, serve as proof that an incident occurred on a particular route and when.

Still, the new system has flaws. “Electronics cannot work steadily with constant vibrations,” said Lambutsky.

Thus, passengers should be careful not to break the new machines. “Do not try to shove the old ticket into the electronic punch! It can swallow unfamiliar paper and break down,” an unnamed conductor of bus No.21 told Segodnya daily.

Electronic punches are now installed in 116 buses on nine bus routes: 60 and 61 (Troeshchyna); 21, 73 and 101 (Troeshchyna to Petrivka); 41 and 99 (Obolon); 102 (Vynohradar); and 46 (Darnytsya).

One installed electronic model costs taxpayers $500, said Lumbutsky. “Passengers have to get used to the new system. After July 1, we will dismantle the hand-punches in the buses. Old ticket sales will cease
on June 20,” said Vasyl Palamarchuck, director of Kyiv’s Fleet Vehicle No.6.

Kyivpasstrans intends to equip all bus routes with the new punches, including the trolleybus routes to Troeshchyna and Obolon. New tickets furthermore can be hand punched on routes that are not
equipped with electronic punches. They can be purchased at a ticket kiosk at the bus stop or from the
conductors, and can be exchanged for old tickets.

“In fact, this is the element of the future fare collection system. Electronic punches are provided with card readers (for future electronic tickets). This will let us create any tariff systems, such
as discounts, and (other) benefits programs,” said Lambutsky.

Kyiv Post intern Artem Babak can be reached at [email protected].