ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 11. Kazakhstan has introduced electronic payments at public transportation in all the regions across the country, Trend reports.
The service is handled by 14 operators. The decision to implement the feature was triggered by the increase of non-cash payments across Kazakhstan - in the past 3 years, the share of non-cash payments has increased from 34 percent to 79 percent.
The Ministry of Transport said that electronic payment system helps improve the efficiency of passenger transport and generate accurate statistical reporting on the distribution of passenger traffic.
At the same time, this contributes to the withdrawal of funds from the shadow economy by minimizing unscrupulous actions of carriers.
Payment can be made using bank cards that support NFC technology, mobile applications of banks, scanning a QR code, etc.
As Rafal Trepka, CEO of Mastercard in Central Asia, previously stated, Mastercard launches various promotions for cardholders to support cashless payment in public transport.
"For example, together with the Almaty Subway, we announced that by the end of 2023, when paying with smartphones and smart watches that support Google Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, to which a Mastercard is linked, the fare will cost only 5 tenge, instead of 100 tenge. Such promotions provide customers with the opportunity not only to appreciate the convenience, speed and security of payments through mobile devices with Mastercard cards, but also to significantly save on daily expenses," he noted.