Travellers boarding buses in Yangon can now pay for their rides by tapping on and off public transportation using new prepaid cards.
An alternative to fumbling around for a filthy 100-kyat note, the cards cost 2,000 kyats and can be bought at Yangon Bus Service branches in Sule, Thamine and Tamwe as well as at 102 G&G convenience stores throughout the city.
Yangon City Development Committee has also opened top-up counters at the bus stops in front of the City Hall, Myanmar Plaza, 8 Mile and Parami Naungbin.
Named Yangon Payment Services (YPS), the cards will be issued free if users top them up for 5,000 kyats as part of a promotion from July 16 to August 15. The minimum top-up is 1,000 kyats and the maximum is 50,000 kyats.
So far, YPS cards can be used on lines 43, 62, 72, 87, 88, 89, 96, 12, 14, 25, 30 and 38.
And they seem to be going down well with the public—more than 9,000 have been sold in five days since July 16, according to their creator, Asia Starmar Transport Intelligent Co Ltd.
Just touch the card on the validator at the front of the bus and then again on the exit door to pay the fee when you leave. But be warned, bus freeloaders! If the card isn’t touched on the exit validator, the fare will be deducted when the card taps the front validator on your next ride.
