Mayor of Kragujevac, Radomir Nikolic, and Turkish Ambassador Tanju Bilgiç validated their personalized eKg cards today, thus launching a new electronic payment system for public transportation in the city.
This is just another in a series of innovations that the City Public Transportation Agency is working on with the aim of modernizing public transportation, which now has 68 instead of 62 buses with 1300 departures . In addition, passengers are offered free internet connection, as well as display devices with sound announcement of the bus stop and the time when the bus arrives.
The equipment for monitoring and ticketing was leased for a period of two years from Apex Solutions, but unlike other cities, we completely manage the equipment and the card issuance – said Dušan Obradović, the Director of the City Public Transportation Agency. Additionally, by constructing 100 modern bus stops by the end of the year, the first pilot one in 7 Nikola Pašić Street cost slightly less than EUR 5000, Kragujevac will take the leading position in public transportation, not only in Serbia, but also in Europe. Equipment lease on a monthly basis is EUR 14 500 and we expect that this project will create the Smart City.
This represents a complete modernization and a big step in the implementation of the Smart City system, which was first introduced in Kragujevac by charging the parking service through SMS, said the Mayor Radmir Nikolić. The idea is that besides transport, the card becomes a ticket for galleries, museums or pools, to be used for parking fee, as well as for everyday check-in and check-out of kindergarten children. During this year, Nikolić remarked, a donation by the Chinese government, worth nearly two million euros, will be available for the construction of the city Data Center, which will be the basis for all the other steps, such as smart lighting, video surveillance in the city, and setting up the sensors for initial fire detection.
In the last two years, we have made enormous efforts to provide citizens with efficient, modern and safe public transportation. Aside from free tickets for pensioners, we have provided free transportation for all elementary and high school students, reinforced and introduced new lines, and the buses are suddenly full of passengers. With this, Nikolić emphasized, the quality of life in the city was raised to a higher level.
According to Turkish Ambassador Tanju Bilgiç, the electronic billing system has been used for a long time in almost all Turkish cities, it is easy to use, and citizens use it not only for transportation but for various other purposes.
There are very good relations between Serbia and Turkey, and we are very happy and pleased that we can contribute in this way to make it even better. Expressing his gratitude for the trust given to the company Apex Solutions, the Ambassador Bilgiç also expressed his hope that the Turkish investors will recognize Kragujevac as a good place for new investments.
Furthermore, the new billing system consists of personalized and non-personalized eKG cards, as well as 1-day, 3-day and 5-day time-limited tickets. The replacement of old ID cards started on April 1 and it will last until May 1. Personalized cards will cost 300 dinars, while non-personalized ones will cost 250 dinars. Except in the GAS premises – the purchase and refill of the tickets will be available at over 80 sales locations throughout the city. The price of individual ticket bought from the driver will be significantly higher starting on May 1, in order to reduce this ticketing system to a minimum for safety reasons.
After the presentational bus ride, the representatives of Apex Solutions held a presentation in the Assembly Hall, for school directors, representatives of public companies and other important users about the new billing system for tickets in the public transportation.