ABU DHABI // Passengers will be able to pay bus fares in the capital with a new automated card system.
Machines that sell and top up the cards, with payment by cash or credit card, are being installed in main bus stations in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and in shopping malls.
Three hundred machines for topping up cards will also be installed at Abu Dhabi and Al Ain bus stations, customer-care centres, bus shelters, Abu Dhabi airport, shopping malls and hospitals. Machines at bus entry and exit doors will calculate and deduct the fare, providing passengers with information about the balance.
There will be an on-board service on intercity buses, enabling passengers to purchase temporary cards or reload their permanent cards by paying the driver directly.
Cardholders can also visit ticket offices at Abu Dhabi and Al Ain bus stations to purchase and personalise their cards with names and photos, renew them, pay fines for breaking public transport rules or lodge a complaint. A lost and found service will also be available.
The system, called Hafilat, which means buses in Arabic, will be introduced next year. No date has been set. The Department of Transport will review public feedback after the official launch.
Khaled Mohamed Hashem, the executive director of the land sector at the department, said it was working on plans to equip cards with additional features, including mobile or online payments and the ability to pay for other transport-related services such as taxis, ferries and Mawaqif, or for non-transport related services, such as cinemas and football matches.
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