The Citadele bank in cooperation with Rigas Karte have created an innovative change: to use a payment card simultaneously as an e-ticket, registering trips in the public transportation of Riga in the same way as with a standard e-talons e-ticket.
From July 1st 2015, this card is available to every resident of Latvia.
The new card combines the functions of a payment card and an e-ticket. Thus, entering the public transportation of Riga, the owner of the card can register the trip exactly as with standard contactless cards or tickets, by approaching the bank card to the validator. There is no need to purchase any e-talons e-ticket or card before, nor to reload it. The price of the trip will be debited from the passenger’s bank account the next day, and each time the debited amount will be calculated in order to give the best tariff to the passenger. The more the passenger will travel, the less each trip will cost, until reaching the monthly pass value which is the lowest fare for frequent travellers.
This card can be used to conveniently pay for trips in any vehicle of “Rīgas satiksme” in the city of Riga – in a bus, trolleybus, tram, as well as minibuses of “Rīgas mikroautobusu satiksme”.
The Citadele/e-talons card combines the characteristics of the international payment card MasterCard and the e-ticket. It can be used for:
- payments at points of sales and on the Internet
- depositing money in account and withdrawing money form ATM
- for paying trips in Riga public transportation
- and it is possible to apply a credit limit to it
Additionally to the function of e-ticket, the owner of this card will receive all other advantages that the Citadele bank provides. Without additional payment, each owner of the new card will receive an American Express payment card that will allow to access the discounts of the SELECTS programme and other advantages.
With the new Citadele payment card, the price for one trip in “Rīgas satiksme” transportation will be 1.15 euros, which is the same price as for purchasing ticket for one trip in advance. The payment card with e-ticket will register the trips during one calendar month and automatically apply the same discounts as for e-ticket bought in advance for a certain number of trips or a monthly pass.
Fare concessions do not apply to this card (pre-school children, orphans, disabled people, politically repressed people, members of the national resistance movement, general education students etc.)
The Citadele payment card with e-ticket is useful also for those who use public transportation often and purchase monthly tickets. After each registered trip, the number of trips is recorded in the payment card – if their total value during the calendar month reach the price of a monthly ticket, then for other trips in the same month no payment will be charged.
The usefulness of the payment card with e-ticket has been taken into account for those passengers of public transportation who use it 10 or 20 times a month as well. For example, registering 10 trips with transport, for each trip the price is 1.15 euros, but for the tenth trip – 0.55 euros. Thus the total price of ten trips is 10.90 euros, which corresponds to the e-ticket price for 10 trips.
To apply for the payment card with e-ticket, simply go to www.citadele.lv, or go on the Internet banking or call the 24-hour customer support centre at 6 701 0000, or enter in any branch of Citadele in Latvia.
