Pilot program in TA area allows bus riders to recharge Rav-Kav using home computer
Transportation Ministry officials said their hope is that the new service will eliminate the need for passengers to physically come to service centers to charge their cards.
By SHARON UDASINUpdated: AUGUST 11, 2015 05:15The Rav Kav USB card, which could be manually recharged, will begiven to residents of Gush Dan in a pilot program(photo credit: TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY)
About 1,000 bus travelers in the Gush Dan region will soon receive new USB Rav-Kav cards that can be recharged via credit card on a home computer, the Transportation Ministry announced on Monday.Today, holders of the multi-use Rav-Kav transportation card by means of a monthly contract, by loading it manually at charging stations around the country or by purchasing rides from a bus driver. Transportation Ministry officials said their hope is that the new service will eliminate the need for passengers to physically come to service centers to charge their cards.A forthcoming pilot project will enable select Tel Aviv area residents to try out the new USB Rav-Kav cards, with the participation of bus operators Egged, Dan, Kavim, Metropoline, Superbus and Afikim, the ministry said. The passengers will be able to recharge their Rav-Kavs using a credit card and specifying a monetary amount of their choice.The pilot project, which will last about two weeks, will allow the Transportation Ministry and the public transportation operators to examine service features like how the card is loaded, security and other logistics, Transportation Minister Israel Katz explained."Thanks to this new service, everyone's home computer can serve as a charging station for the Rav-Kav card and save passengers valuable time," he said.Meanwhile, Public Transportation Authority director Meir Chen expressed his hopes that the system would be a critical step toward revolutionizing the field of smart ticketing systems. Implementing these cards is part of a much larger overall plan, which includes the deployment of more service stations, the placement of ticketing machines on bus doors and the capability to pay for tickets through the Internet and mobile phones, he added.