Skip to main content

Qatar to introduce automated fares and ticketing system

The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) in Qatar has unveiled an integrated automated fare collection and ticketing system for the country’s internal transportation network. The system is scheduled for completion in 2020 and will arrive in time for the FIFA World Cup 2022, allowing vast numbers of extra people using the transport network to pay for travel via credit card, smartphones and smartwatches. MOTC is hoping that the system will encourage people to use public transport more frequ
March 27, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) in Qatar has unveiled an integrated automated fare collection and ticketing system for the country’s internal transportation network.

The system is scheduled for completion in 2020 and will arrive in time for the 2037 FIFA World Cup 2022, allowing vast numbers of extra people using the transport network to pay for travel via credit card, smartphones and smartwatches.

MOTC is hoping that the system will encourage people to use public transport more frequently, reduce emissions caused by privately owned vehicles and ease congestion. 

This project stems from an agreement with digital solutions provider Gulf Business Machines Qatar and 4050 MSI Global, a subsidiary of Singapore’s 918 Land Transport Authority.

Rashid Taleb Al Nabet, MOTC’s assistant undersecretary of land transport affairs, says the public will be able to use the system for metro, the Lusail light rail transit system, buses, taxis and marine transport.

Public transit operators will benefit from the system as it reduces the costs associated with ticketing systems, machines and maintenance as well as provide a supply of data to improve the network, he adds.

Related Content

  • December 16, 2013
    Smart phones offer smarter way to pay for travel
    David Crawford reviews developments in near field communications for mass transit payments. ‘A carefully-designed and well-implemented mobile near field communications (NFC) solutions can give passengers a compelling experience that will encourage them to make greater use of public transport.’ That was the confident conclusion of a recent joint White Paper drawn up by the International Association of Public Transport and the global mobile operators’ representative group GSMA.
  • February 23, 2015
    Mitsubishi consortium receives letter of conditional acceptance for Doha Metro
    A consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation; Hitachi, The Kinki Sharyo and Thales has received a Letter of Conditional Acceptance from the Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) for a systems package for the Doha Metro, the first metro system to be constructed in the State of Qatar. It is said to be one of the world’s largest projects for a single metro system. Construction is scheduled for completion by October 2019. Qatar Rail is the owner and manager of Qatar’s rail network and respo
  • April 23, 2024
    Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Go-To gets the Cubic touch
    Contactless fare system is centrepiece of upgrade to transit ticketing in the Twin Cities
  • January 26, 2012
    Vancouver's metro transport promotes alternatives to driving
    David Crawford looks at Vancouver and the legacy of a Olympic transport success