Bucharest Public Transport Company to pay EUR 1 mln for contactless cards

The Bucharest Public Transport Company (RATB) allotted some EUR 842,000 without VAT, for a minimum of 1 million and a maximum of 1.97 million contactless cards, according to an announcement on e-licitatie.ro. The estimated value is calculated for the maximum number of cards, and the contract will be signed for a period of 12 months. The contract requires the purchase of several types of contactless cards. RATB has modernized the ticket validation system by replacing paper tickets with rechargeable plastic cards. RATB recently announced that it will increase the number of buses serving the route to the Otopeni airport in the capital city, after low cost flights were moved from secondary airport Baneasa to Otopeni. Line 780 which connects Basarab railway station to the airport will have 34 percent more buses, while line 783, between Unirii Square downtown Bucharest and the airport will be served by 20 percent more buses during the week and 50 percent more during week-ends. Buses will arrive at shorter time intervals, every 25 minutes for line 780 and every 15 minutes for line 783. A night line connecting the Otopeni airport and downtown Bucharest is also on the cards, depending on the number of night flights. What RATB still lacks is an online timetable of bus arrivals on these routes. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Arhivafoto.ro)