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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Mobility as a Service gaining traction in US and Europe
    December 15, 2015
    As Mobility as a Service starts to move into the mainstream of transport planning, David Crawford compares European and North American initiatives. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept fast gaining traction on both sides of the Atlantic as a way of giving travellers digital multimodal one-stop shops and journey planning tools as an alternative to private car use. Planned delivery methods include subscription-based travel packages in Europe, and 'mobility aggregator' apps, including employee commute ben
    Read More
  • MaaS by any other name
    February 6, 2020
    Has the roll-out of Mobility as a Service stalled - or could it just be that multimodal travel is simply happening under a variety of different names?
    Read More
  • Singapore LTA extends contactless Visa payments
    May 23, 2019
    Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) is to extend its SimplyGo system to allow commuters to pay for transport via Visa contactless cards from 6 June. The move follows an initial launch in which SimplyGo was made available for commuters using Mastercard in March. Yeo Teck Guan, LTA senior group director, public transport, says: “We are seeing a steady uptake in usage since its launch, with an average of over 120,000 daily trips. With the inclusion of Visa, more commuters will benefit,” Users
    Read More
  • TfL commences consultation on cashless trams
    September 5, 2017
    Transport for London (TfL) has begun an eight-week public consultation on plans to make trams in London ‘cashless’. The proposal would see existing cash ticket machines, which only sell a small number of the more expensive paper tickets every week and do not allow customers to top-up their Oyster card, removed from the tram network. As the ticket machines, which were installed when the tram system opened in 2000, have such low usage and have now reached the end of their useful life
    Read More

Highlighted Content