TEHRAN – Passengers in a few cities across Iran can pay taxi fares by debit cards within the framework of a pilot project by the next three months, head of the urban taxi drivers union said on Wednesday.

A similar project had been launched in the cities of Tehran and Isfahan some years ago but failed to reach the desired results largely because it made taxi drivers to pay 40 million rials (nearly $1,000) – for acquiring the related devices – despite the fact that this method of payment had no tangible effect on their income, Morteza Zameni highlighted, YJC reported.

The official talked about offering some incentives to encourage the taxi drivers and noted that they are planning to provide the required devices for electronic payment for free. He further stated that after the pilot project the scheme will be implemented nationwide in the near future. 

Ride-hailing apps are one step ahead in this regard since passengers can pay the fare electronically by just few tabs on their smart phones.

MAH/MQ/MG