Sofia: New Transport Tickets and Cards from the New Year

Society | December 18, 2022, Sunday // 13:57|  views

@Nova

From the New Year, the new tickets for time spent - 30 and 60 minutes, which will be used to travel by subway or other public transport - will come into force in the public transport in Sofia.

"The new transport documents have been a fact since September. For the first time, an annual student card can be purchased. A new ticket for under 26 years of age is also available. With this convenience, we gave parents the opportunity to load their children's cards for a whole year with one trip to the UMC cash desks. Time tickets are about to start on January 1," said the executive director of the Urban Mobility Center, Dimitar Dilchev, on BNT.

According to him, with the current price of BGN 1.60, passengers will have the right to an unlimited number of transfers within 30 or 60 minutes. For each of them, the ticket should be validated.

"After the final validation of this 30 or 60-minute time limit, you will be able to continue your journey to your final destination," he explained.

Dilchev emphasized that if the cards or travel tickets are not validated, passengers are subject to sanctions. However, the controllers will grant them a grace period.

"For several months, teams that are not in uniform have been working in Sofia - they board and travel with you, and then they start the inspection suddenly. From next month, there will also be controllers with cameras so that inspections can proceed normally," he added.

The new transport documents

Ticket 30+ – it allows transfers within 30 minutes after the first validation done. It will cost BGN 1.60 and can be loaded into Sofia City Card, Ultralight or used with a bank card (PayAsYouGo service). When transferring, it must be revalidated in each subsequent vehicle. The last validation must be before the expiry of the 30 min period to travel to the final destination. In case of trips made with more than 2 tickets within the day, paid with the same bank card, a daily card is automatically aggregated for all lines at a price of BGN 4.

Ticket 60+ – allows transfers within 60 minutes after the first validation done. Its price will be BGN 2.20. Validation is again mandatory when boarding the next vehicle. It also applies to the use of transport on request. It can be loaded into the Sofia City Card, Ultralight or be used with a bank card (PayAsYouGo service).

Ticket from the driver - this is the paper ticket used until now, but its price will now be BGN 2. It will be valid only for the specific vehicle from which you purchased it and will not give the right to transfers.

Day card – this is the already well-known card by now. Its price remains - BGN 4. Travel with it is unlimited. It can be purchased at UMC points, subway ticket offices and through the Mpass application.

24-hour card – valid for an unlimited number of trips on all types of transport (except on-demand), but within 24 hours. Its price will be BGN 6. Its term begins to run from the moment of purchase. It can also be purchased for a future date, in which case its term begins at 00:00 on the selected date and is valid until 23:59 on the same date. It is loaded on the Sofia City Card or the Ultralight card.

72-hour card – works on the same principle as the 24-hour card. Its price is BGN 15.

Weekly card – activated for trips from Monday to Friday, when you have used more than two 30+ tickets. Its price is BGN 20. At the end of each day, they are aggregated as a daily card of BGN 4, and if the payments were made only by bank card, you get a free trip for Saturday and Sunday. You only need to validate the bank card when getting into a vehicle and travel for BGN 0 during the weekend in the entire network.

Annual card – includes all lines and is not limited by time. The personalized one costs BGN 365, and the non-personalized one – BGN 600. The latter can now be paid for in three installments. The first installment for three months is BGN 150, the next three months are BGN 120, and the last 6 are BGN 100. It can be purchased from UMC sales points and can be loaded online.

Student card - for pupils and students of full-time education, the card is annual. Its price is BGN 200 and allows unlimited trips and transfers in transport. It is purchased at the points of sale after presenting a student document for the enrolled school year. The current monthly card of BGN 20 is also retained.

Youth card – for young people up to 26 years of age, regardless of whether they are working or studying. Its price is BGN 250 and it is annual. It can be bought at the UMC points against an ID card.

Card for parents – intended for parents of children aged 0 to 2 who are on leave. The card is monthly and will cost BGN 10. It is purchased against a document certifying the right of use.

The so-called "free white ticket" remains in case of dirty air, as well as the night ticket at a price of BGN 2, but for the moment the Sofia Municipality has not decided to return night transport to the capital.

The monthly card for the entire city network will continue to cost BGN 50. Pensioners will pay BGN 25 for a monthly card, compared to BGN 26 so far. For people over 68 years of age, the monthly subscription increases from BGN 8 to BGN 10. All vehicle documents are available online and can be loaded on the platform https://webportal.sofiatraffic.bg

It is important to know that validation becomes mandatory upon upload. Otherwise, you will be fined BGN 3.

Contactless electronic media

Bank card (PayAsYouGo service) – only one passenger can be validated in the vehicle with a given bank card. The reason for this is the planned aggregation of trips to a daily card of BGN 4.

Sofia City Card – this is the well-known card, which is plastic with a chip, allowing multiple loading of short-term and long-term transport documents. Its price is BGN 3 and it is issued at UMC sales points. Short-term transport documents can be loaded into the plastic at the UMC points, at the subway ticket offices and online through a web portal. Long-term transport documents (subscription cards) can be loaded into the plastic only at the points of UMC EAD and through the web portal.

Ultralight – a paper card with a chip, allowing multiple loading of short-term vehicle documents only. Its price is BGN 0.80 and it can be purchased at the points of sale of CGM, as well as at all cash desks in the subway.

Mpass - the mobile application that can be used to pay and provide digital tickets.

You must always use the same medium: physical card, phone, tablet or smartwatch. The validators in the vehicles read each carrier as a separate bank card, and in order to aggregate your trips to a BGN 4 daily card, you must choose one carrier and perform validations only with it during the day.

When checking in, provide the controller with the carrier you validated with.

Always keep an eye on what message the validator prints. Any indication other than "Valid Card" accompanied by a green light signal means that the particular trip has not been paid for and upon verification you are subject to a penalty.

If you have purchased a digital transport document (MPass) that requires validation by reading a QR code, and at the same time you have an electronic wallet (virtual card) on your mobile device, you must make sure that it is closed (inactive). Otherwise, the validator may charge your virtual card instead of the QR code on the digital waybill.

The payment of the due amount takes place after the end of the working hours of the public transport. You can track all your trips and amounts owed on them in the City by DSK app by downloading it from the AppStore and Google Play.

Currently, the ticket for an irregular passenger, sold by the controller, is BGN 30. From the New Year, its price will be increased to BGN 40.

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Tags: transport, sofia, ticket, card

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