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Doha: Bus passengers in Qatar can now buy and recharge Karwa smartcards at the first self-service machine installed at Al Ghanim Central Bus Station. Soon they will be able to avail of this service through credit and debit cards, public transport company Mowasalat said yesterday.
A total of 12.7 million people used public transport last year, with an increase by 19 percent compared to the previous year, which saw 10.6 million passengers.
The user-friendly self service machines provide quick selling and recharge service for Karwa smartcards in 5, 10 and 100 categories. This is the first step towards introducing electronic payment for public bus cards.
Mowasalat also announced it will shortly add credit and debit cards payment facility to all types of Karwa smartcards such as Classic and Limited, among others.
There are more than 300 Karwa smartcard selling and recharging points and over 400 services provided through Ooredoo self-service machines across the country. In addition, the company has over 80 official distributors for recharge services.
Mowasalat plans to install this year additional machines, and expand its selling points by contracting with more distributors, and provide advanced recharge facilities.
“Mowasalat has been keen on updating its services and collaborating with Ministry of Transport and Communications and transport operators. Recently it collaborated with partners to integrate the feeder buses with Qatar Rail system, which will cover all metro stations in order to create an integrated transport system for Qatar in line with the Ministry’s plans and Qatar National Vision 2030,” said a statement yesterday.
In addition, Mowasalat works under the supervision of MoTC to provide the best services to public transport passengers through periodic studies of current and future road networks to expand public transportation network coverage for all areas of Qatar.
© The Peninsula 2017
