On the opening day of Gitex 2019 — which is being held on 6-10 October at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) — Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) unveiled its Virtual Nol card initiative to ease payments including parking fees, shopping bills, and fuel charges, with the service set to be rolled out in the third quarter of 2020, ahead of Expo 2020 Dubai, which opens its doors on 20 October 2020.
Speaking about the initiative, director of automated fare collection at RTA’s corporate technology support services sector, Mohammed Al Khayat, said that users would need to buy the Virtual Nol card and save it in their phones.
The Nol cards may be topped-up using credit card details saved in personal mobile devices.
Al Khayat added: “The near-field communication feature has to be enabled in smartphones of riders such that they can use the Virtual Nol card in paying fares for metro, bus, tram, and marine transport services.
“Virtual Nol is part of our Digital Nol Strategy 2018-22, aimed at achieving the smart transformation of payment means and using advanced technologies in transit services.”