The Yangon Region Transport Authority will begin piloting a cashless payment system on select YBS buses starting this month, with plans to fully implement the system by June, according to Yangon Region Transport Authority Secretary Maung Aung.
“We are testing out the Yangon Payment System (YPS) on a few buses downtown before we roll out the program city-wide,” he told Coconuts Yangon this morning.
The Burmese-language section of the Myanmar Times first reported that the the Yangon regional government would begin testing the YPS system just in time for the 3rd anniversary of the city bus service.
The new system will utilize what’s known as near-field communication or radio-frequency identification (RFID) to allow users to simply tap the card to pay their fares.
“If passengers can just tap and pay for their fares, we can save a lot of time for our bus system. Although a swipe-system is better than just paying cash, the new system will save even more time,” Maung Aung added.
The Yangon Regional Government has been pushing to implement the Yangon Payment System since 2017 but have run into a few potholes.
Excel KC Myanmar Co., the first company tapped to install the systems, was ultimately disqualified from the selection process after they were unable to meet their requirements.
In September, Asia Starmar Transport Intelligent and Yangon Payment Services signed a Memorandum of Understanding after winning a bid to implement the new system.
In the two years since the Yangon Bus System was implemented, it has been plagued with overcrowding, delays and safety concerns.
Despite these significant challenges, the Yangon Transport Authority publicly declared YBS a success a year after it’s implementation.
