Orange and Vodafone customers can pay for access to metro stations in Bucharest via mobile phone, starting April 2013, according to metro operator Metrorex.The system has been expanded after testing in a number of metro stations in Bucharest last year.

The users can pay for metro journeys by sending a text message to 1700. Payment confirmation then sent back to the mobile phone by another text message.

The price is EUR 0.5 per trip, EUR 0.9 for two metro trips and EUR 3.25 for 10 journeys. Ticket prices don’t include VAT.  For purchasing two or 10 metro journeys, the clients of the two telecom companies have to send a text with 2C or 10C. The access to the metro station is made by calling 1700 and putting the phone near the special validation device set up at the station entrance.

This new access system, based on the Data-Over-Voice technology, was first tested last year in seven metro stations in Bucharest and was considered reliable after processing over 10,000 validations, according to Metrorex.

The Bucharest metro network is 33 years old, has 51 stations and around 70 kilometers of track . In the first half of 2012, Metrorex transported over 89 million passengers, after registering over 170 million passengers during the whole of 2011.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Metrorex)