Malaga Busses To Have Credit Card Facilities

MALAGA city busses set to have credit card facilities installed
Malaga City Council, through the EMT, has awarded a contract to BBVA that will allow customers to pay for their bus trips with a Visa or MasterCard issued from any bank, both national and international. The Council said in a statement that the contract has initially been awarded for four years, with the option of extending it by a further year. In the coming months, the plan is to roll out the facility for the entire EMT fleet following a trial on the airport busses.
With the incorporation of this system, Malaga will become a pioneer city in Andalusia with this payment technology on board municipal buses, and the EMT predicts that over the next few years card payments will overtake cash.
The EMT has said that the new system will be easy to use for customers. The vehicles have already been installed with card readers, and users simply have to swipe their cards rather than waiting for the terminal to connect with the bank. The payment is therefore instantaneous, just as if an EMT bus card were being used. In addition, each bus will be equipped with two card machines to make the process as quick as possible.
Malaga City Council is committed to improving the experience of using public transport and in recent years has modernised the entire fleet by buying larger, more comfortable vehicles and installing the latest hybrid technology.
In September, the Council formalised the purchase of ten new hybrid articulated busses at a cost of €3,880,000 plus VAT. These vehicles are five per cent larger than a standard bus at 18.75 metres, and were the first of their kind to operate in Spain.
According to EMT, “efficiency and respect for the environment are key in the progressive modernization of the EMT fleet, with special relevance in these new buses as they are hybrid units”.