The service is provided by the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) in coordination with Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Company No. 1 (HURC1) and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Sacombank (in the role of payment bank) and 24 banks in the NAPAS system including:
BIDV, Agribank, TPBank, SHB, BVBank, VietBank, SeABank, NamABank, Vietcombank, Wooribank, Techcombank, VIB, NCB, VietABank, Bao Viet Bank, PBVN, Kienlongbank, Saigonbank, BAB, Eximbank, MB, ACB, OCB, Vietinbank.
Metro Line No. 1, also known as the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro Line, will be operated from December 22, 2024 and is the first urban railway line with a total length of 19.7km under the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway system.
The official operation of Metro Line 1 shows that the public transport system in Vietnam is being invested in and developed with a variety of different types, creating a passenger transport network connecting the areas.
In the trend of electronic payments becoming a daily payment habit of the people, NAPAS has coordinated with HURC1, Sacombank (playing the role of payment bank) and banks in the NAPAS system to deploy payment services using NAPAS cards at ticket gates of Metro Line 1 Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien stations.
On the platform of HURC1's Open-loop technology electronic ticket system, the service is deployed with debit and credit cards using NAPAS' contactless technology. Just tap the NAPAS card on the control device at the entrance (tap - in) and after finishing the journey at the exit (tap - out), the payment transaction for the trip will be completed.
Sharing about the implementation of the NAPAS automatic payment system on Metro Line 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Dang Hung - Deputy General Director of NAPAS said: "With the advantage of more than 80 million NAPAS cards of 25 participating banks, the NAPAS card payment service on Metro Line 1 helps promote the habit of cashless payment when participating in traffic, bringing convenience and safety to passengers in Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to promoting green transportation and environmental protection, gradually reducing the manual ticket sales system".
The implementation of NAPAS card payment into the payment system on urban railway line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) helps people experience urban railway services more quickly and modernly.
At the same time, it shows the benefits of integrated and synchronous payment infrastructure, thereby contributing to promoting green transportation in Vietnam and bringing the payment system on urban railway lines in our country to catch up with other countries in the world.
Many years ago, many countries have implemented a closed- loop public transport payment fee collection system, people deposit money into value-added cards (stored value cards) and use this card when traveling by bus or metro.
Through the operation process, this implementation model has revealed many disadvantages, typically that this ticket card is only used in a separate bus or metro system, or is only used within 1 city. In addition, taking time to deposit money into the card also causes inconvenience to users.
In recent years, with the development of solutions in the field of electronic tickets and the popularity of Bank payment cards, using non-contact technology according to EMV standards, many countries have researched and gradually switched to payment for transportation with an open- loop mechanism, allowing customers to pay public transport fees directly by Bank card, with a variety of means of transport from bus, metro... without the need to use many different specialized ticket cards.
Using a Bank card also helps bypass the queueing step to buy tickets or deposit money into the ticket card. The open transport payment model also contributes to reducing operating costs for public transport service providers.
Aiming for the model of building smart ticket cards in public transport, since 2021, NAPAS has connected the implementation of the NAPAS card payment solution with Vinbus electric buses. To date, the service has been deployed for 11 Vinbus routes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
It can be said that bringing the form of NAPAS card payment to the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro line and some bus routes in Ho Chi Minh City has shown the efforts of NAPAS and banks in promoting electronic payments in the public transport sector.
In the coming time, NAPAS will continue to expand the list of card issuers in traffic payments, creating synchronization and improving further utilities, meeting the needs of non-cash payments of people.
