Dubai introduces contactless payment on public transport

Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is to launch a contactless fare payment system on the city’s metro, public buses and water bus. Passengers will be able to pay by smart mobile phones using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The RTA says that contactless technology, where the mobile phone is passed over sensors mounted on the access gates to public transport stations, is the first of its kind in the Middle East.
October 19, 2012 Read time: 1 min
6700 Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is to launch a contactless fare payment system on the city’s metro, public buses and water bus. Passengers will be able to pay by smart mobile phones using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

The RTA says that contactless technology, where the mobile phone is passed over sensors mounted on the access gates to public transport stations, is the first of its kind in the Middle East.

H.E. Matar Al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the RTA, says “The new service enables public transport users to pay their fares through the e-payment portal, top-up their Nol accounts electronically, and query balances via phone. The RTA has coordinated a trial run of the service with telecommunication providers Etisalat and Du to assess the performance of the service before its official launch in mid 2013.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cubic to showcase One Account platform at London conference
    January 26, 2018
    Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) will demonstrate its account-based ticketing and open-payment platforms and new mobile technologies at the Transport Ticketing Global conference in London from the 23-24 January 2018. The presentation is aimed at exhibiting strategies for increasing efficiencies for transportation operators and convenience and accessibility for travellers.
    Read More
  • Mobility pricing offers new tools for managing mobility
    November 23, 2017
    Mobility pricing is the best way of sustaining and enhancing mobility, argues Moving Forward Consulting’s Josef Czako. Mobility pricing (MP) is effectively the culmination of the ‘user pays’ principle and has been referred to in many policy discussions about electronic toll collection, road user charging (RUC), and pricing. MP not only reflects the ‘use more, pay more’ nature of RUC, it also takes account of the external cost of journeys including pollution, noise, the cost of congestion and accidents.
    Read More
  • Seoul adds autonomous bus to city's public transportation network
    July 9, 2024
    Following 11-month pilot, it will run on a 2.6km route in Korean capital
    Read More
  • Less travel aggravation to blunt Aggieland fans’ motivation
    June 17, 2016
    Returning travel times to normal within two hours of the end of a major football game was the challenge facing College Station, Adam Lyons explains how this was achieved. College Station, TX, also known as ‘Aggieland’, is located right in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston triangle making the city accessible to over 14 million Texans within less than a four-hour drive. One of the biggest draws to this area is Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Aggie football games in the fall, mea
    Read More

Highlighted Content