Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Visa, together with partners, announced the launch of a contactless fare payment system in public transport in Tashkent. Now residents and guests of the city will be able to quickly and conveniently pay for travel on the metro and buses using Visa contactless payment cards, cards of other payment systems, as well as ATTO transport cards.

Transport is one of the key channels for the development of contactless payments. The introduction of contactless payment will allow passengers to conveniently, quickly and safely pay for travel, the transport operator - to optimize the processes of transportation and accounting of passengers, as well as reduce the costs associated with various transportation systems.

At the first stage of the project, passengers will be able to take advantage of contactless payments in 1,100 buses in the city, as well as at all metro stations in Tashkent. To make a payment, it is enough to bring the contactless card to the validator marked with the contactless payment acceptance symbol. The plans of the project participants are to equip another 700 fixed-route taxis in the capital with contactless validators, as well as to continue the introduction of contactless fare payments in other regions of Uzbekistan.

Christina Dorosh, vice president and regional manager of Visa in Central Asia and Azerbaijan: “Visa has global and local expertise in the implementation of advanced solutions for urban infrastructure. We have implemented many transport projects in the CIS and South-Eastern Europe and we see how the introduction of contactless payments contributes to the wider spread of non-cash payments in general. More than 40% of transactions in Uzbekistan are already made using contactless payment instruments, and the launch of contactless fare payments in Tashkent together with partners will help this trend develop more actively. "

Tashkent has become the third city in Uzbekistan, where Visa, in cooperation with partners, has begun to deploy a contactless payment system. Prior to that, pilot projects with contactless payments in public transport were implemented in Ferghana and Samarkand.

"The launch of the project for accepting payments in transport is a new step towards the development of non-cash payments, increasing customer service and increasing the attractiveness of public transport for both residents of the country and its guests," said Bakhtiyor Rakhmatov, acting Deputy Chairman of Uzpromstroybank.

Timur Azadov, ATTO project manager: “Today, the leadership of our country is pushing the transition of public services to a digital format as much as possible - this is also an answer to the requests of citizens, the fight against the shadow economy, as well as the issue of economic expediency and technological process. Public transport is one of the main directions in all state digitalization programs. But while efficient transport systems and modern infrastructure are fundamentally necessary to provide citizens with access to economic opportunities, in the absence of truly working mechanisms, they cannot solve this problem. Innovative technologies of non-cash payments allow organizing effective interaction with transport organizations and the public, increasing the speed of changes and transformations, and giving a clear picture of what is happening to end users.”