Currently, there are in theory 135 types of tickets available. Instead, there will only be six types of tickets in the future:
- A single-trip ticket for €2 (instead of the current €1.15);
- 90-minute ticket for €1.50;
- 24-hour ticket for €5;
- three-day ticket for €8;
- five-day ticket for €10;
- monthly ticket for €30 (instead of the current €50).
Current discounts will also be maintained, for example, students, teachers and medical staff will have a 50% discount on monthly tickets.
The changes will not affect the categories of passengers who have been granted 100% discounts. Consequently, in the future, seniors, pupils and people with disabilities will still be able to ride free of charge in Rīga public transport.
A new introduction will be a 100% discount for working pensioners.
According to Džineta Innusa, Chair of the Board of Rīgas Satiksme, raising the price of a single-trip ticket will bring it closer to the company's expenses of one trip, which is currently EUR 2.04. She stressed that the current ticket system is complicated. No one knows the existing 135 types of tickets and there are types of tickets that are next to never used.
Innusa hopes that changing access to the range of tickets by switching to cheaper monthly tickets and time-limit tickets will lead to changing passenger habits. If the passenger structure does not change, the new ticketing system could increase revenues of Riga traffic by around EUR 1 million per year.
The new ticket system is scheduled to be introduced as of December 31 of this year. This is done intentionally, as public transport in Riga is free of charge around the New Year. This will result in three nights during which the new data could be entered at all ticket selling sites, and from January 2 the new system could start working.
Innusa said that it was planned to set a 60-day transition period for old tickets purchased before December 31.
The final decision on the reform will be taken at the meeting of the Riga City Council on Wednesday.
