The pilot project is taking place in Kazan commuter trains
Russian Railways (RZD) is actively testing the technology of paying for travel on electric trains by geolocation. Deputy General Director of Russian Railways Evgeny Charkin spoke about this at the conference «Digital Industry of Industrial Russia» (CIPR), which is currently taking place in Nizhny Novgorod.
The technology is being actively tested, it will “definitely take off” because it is very convenient, Charkin is sure. He also said that a pilot project is currently underway in Kazan, and passengers have already used geolocation payment technology more than 1.5 thousand times. The technology is working, reviews on its use are good, he added.
Payment by geolocation works as follows: the user confirms the start of the trip through a mobile application, it reserves the cost on a bank card and generates a QR code for further passage and verification along the route. The smartphone interacts with Bluetooth beacons installed at stations. After the end of the trip, when the passenger leaves a particular station, the actual fare is debited from the card.