From Now On Without Tokens: Yerevan Municipality Confident Even Pensioners Won't Face Difficulties

The paper QR codes will be printed on the principles of cash register receipts and will not pose significant environmental issues. Yerevan's metro will not see a decrease in passenger traffic due to the transition from tokens to an electronic payment system. This was stated by the director of the Yerevan City Management Technologies Center, Sargis Manukyan, in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

Almost all token entry barriers have already been removed from the metro (only one device remains at each station), and all other barriers operate using QR codes that can be purchased through the 'TelCell' system. Manukyan stated that monitoring has shown an approximately 30 percent weekly increase in the number of users utilizing QR codes.

He emphasized that the change in ticket purchasing mechanisms in the metro is part of a comprehensive improvement program for public transport in Yerevan. Manukyan is confident that the new system is much better and more adapted to contemporary technologies.

“The token system and purchasing tickets with tokens is an outdated technology that the entire world has moved away from. I believe there will be no difficulties with this technology. Just as people adapted to tokens in the past, they will now adapt to purchasing and using tickets via these carriers. Even pensioners will not face challenges. For the transition period, cashiers will still operate where people can buy paper QR codes. In the future, there are plans to make the ticket carrier their pension bank card for pensioners,” said Manukyan.

Regarding why the city authorities chose 'TelCell', the official stated that the financial operator of Yerevan's public transport ticket system, 'TelCell', won the competition announced by the municipality, which only included their proposal.

“The tender took place in 2022, and the contract was signed at the beginning of 2023. However, it is crucial to know that 'TelCell' is not the ticket operator in Yerevan. The municipality is the ticket operator. They are merely the ticket revenue collector. It is excluded that they will earn a commission on the tickets,” explained Manukyan.

As for the environmental concerns regarding the large volume of paper used for QR codes, the director of the Yerevan City Management Technologies Center reported that tickets will be printed based on the cash register receipt principle using thermal printing.

“Even the environmental issue is minimized here. No ink is used in this process. Additionally, these tickets should not exceed 5-10 percent of the entire transportation operation,” he noted.

It is worth mentioning that 'TelCell' will service the transport system for five years, after which a new competition will be announced.