• Modern system works in 8 companies in San José, Cartago, Alajuela and Heredia with 200 buses.​

• Residents of Vázquez de Coronado can now pay their bus tickets with electronic means such as credit and debit cards, and other devices.

 

Coronado, 1st. November 2022. Electronic payment in the country's public transportation - which works on buses and trains - reached one million transactions, and the figure will continue to increase as more bus lines integrate into the system, as was done this Tuesday in Coronado .

 

Today, 31 units on route 142 San José-Coronado and branches, operated by the company Autobuses Unidos de Coronado S.A., were incorporated into electronic payment.

 

The National Electronic Payment System in Public Transportation (SINPE-TP) is implemented on all routes of 8 companies in San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia. In total, more than 200 buses already have this payment system, which improves the quality of service for users, and around 15 thousand payments are made daily using these means.

 

In the canton of Vázquez de Coronado, this system benefits more than 65 thousand inhabitants, who can make their payments in an easy, fast, safe and healthy way, by using the various electronic payment instruments issued by national or international financial entities, such as debit, credit or prepaid cards, bracelets, mobile phones or smart watches, among others.

 

The SINPE-TP was implemented on the San José-San Isidro de Coronado route through Calle Blancos and Hospital Calderón Guardia, providing service to passengers coming from the surroundings of Coronado, such as Coronado-Las Nubes- Cascajal, Coronado-San Rafael , Coronado-San Pedro, Coronado-La Colmena, Coronado-Ipis (Periférica de Ipis), Periférica de Coronado; Coronado-San Francisco, Coronado-El Rodeo, Coronado-Patio de Agua, Coronado-Dulce Nombre, Coronado-San Antonio and Coronado-Calle La Maquina.

 

In the starting activity of the SINPE-TP for the San José-Coronado route and branches, which was carried out this 1st. November in the Barrio Los Cedros Community Hall, participated Mrs. Laura Ulloa, Vice Minister of Transportation and Road Safety of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT); Mr. Edward Araya, Mayor of Transportation of the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP); Mr. Carlos Melegatti, director of the Payment Systems Division of the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR); Mr. Rolando Méndez, mayor of Vázquez de Coronado; and Mr. Carlos Quesada, president of Autobuses Unidos de Coronado S. A.

 

Carlos Melegatti, director of the Payment Systems Division of the BCCR, assured that “with electronic payment, the objective of the public entities that regulate public transportation, the Central Bank and the operators themselves, of providing Costa Rican society with inclusive, agile, secure, wide-ranging and available payment options.”

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The SINPE-TP has been operating on all train routes of the Costa Rican Railway Institute (INCOFER) since September 2021. The bus service began in April of this year, when it was implemented in the Sabana-Estadio and Sabana-Cementerio companies. . The other companies have been incorporated gradually: Heredia-Guararí-La Milpa-Bernardo Benavides-Miraflores, in Heredia; Grecia-La Arena-Santa Gertrudis-San Roque-Los Ángeles-Guatusa-Poás, in Alajuela; El Tejar-San Isidro-Higuito-Industrial Park, in Cartago; and recently in Moravia and in Paracito. These 8 companies allow more than 400 thousand inhabitants in different areas of the country to have the opportunity to make their payments for public transportation electronically.

 

Users can verify their electronic transactions at the time of payment, as the validator indicates whether the transaction is successful or rejected. In addition, they can use the SINPE-TP Móvil App, available for mobile phones that can be downloaded from application stores, free of charge.

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