Electronic season tickets for public transport are going to appear in Ekaterinburg.

An electronic ticket is a small personal plastic card with money on it that can be used to pay for a fare in public transport. Journeys are paid on account. Cash is still accepted.

Thereby, passenger flow is controlled to within 100% and the amount of money which every transport enterprise earns is exactly registered.

The electronic season ticket can be used both in municipal public transport as well as in private transport.

The Integrated Payment Center (Rus., "Единый Расчётный Центр") is going to calculate the money flow on the transport market. It will accumulate information from all scanning devices in urban transport system. Thereby, every enterprise that officially functions on the Ekaterinburg passenger traffic market will get their share of funds according to the amount of passengers.

The electronic way of payment enables both the local authorities and transport enterprises to develop flexible fares. The new system also allows to change fare according to the distance in kilometers, as it is done in Europe.

According to the press service of Ekaterinburg administration, with the electronic season ticket one can pay for housing and communal services, telephone, Internet, pay for goods and services in shops and in social institutions.

On November 1, 2009 an experiment with the electronic season ticket will be launched in Ekaterinburg. If everything goes as planned, starting on November 1, 2010 electronic citizen cards will be officially used in Ekaterinburg.