One-hour tickets, cheaper holiday tickets and discounts for parking services will be introduced for holders of Riga resident’s card
Riga City Council has prepared a package of new benefits for holders of Riga resident’s card. As of July 1, 2016 Riga City Council plans to introduce one-hour tickets, which will cost EUR 1.15 on working days and EUR 0.60 on holidays, and also a special “flexitime” ticket in public transport, as well as a 20% discount for parking services in zones B, C and D. Next week the project will be discussed in Riga City Council’s Committee for Traffic and Transport Matters.
The key innovation is the one-hour ticket. It is planned that as of July 1 holders of Riga resident’s card paying EUR 1.15 will buy not a single ticket, as it is now, but a one-hour ticket which is now available in many European cities.
With a one-hour ticket for EUR 1.15, you can make an unlimited number of transfers during one hour, and the ticket will be valid until the end of the route. It means that you can make the last transfer in the 55th minute and go to the terminus. It needs to be noted that the ticket must be validated after each transfer.
The new discounts will also apply to all the existing types of tickets which are available to Riga residents at reduced prices. For example, as of July 1 working pensioners will be able to buy for EUR 0.60 a one-hour ticket instead of the single ticket sold for this price previously. The discount will be also in force when buying 20 one-hour tickets, for instance.
On Saturdays, Sundays and official holidays, holders of Riga resident’s card will be able to buy one-hour ticket for EUR 0.60, which means a discount of almost 50%.
As of July 1 holders of Riga resident’s card will be also offered to buy a special ticket for EUR 15. This ticket will be introduced for those who work flexitime or simply do not use public transport on a regular basis. The ticket can be used any five days (even not consecutive) from a 15-day period. For example, if you buy the ticket for EUR 15 on Monday, you can validate it for the first time on Tuesday and use public transport all the day long without any restrictions. Then, for instance, you can use the same ticket on Thursday, Friday, next Monday and next Wednesday, i.e. five days in total. Its validity period is 15 days.
As of July 1 holders of Riga resident’s card will pay 20% less for parking their cars in zones B, C and D. The discount will not apply to zones R and A, where the high tariff is actually a tool restricting the number of cars in the city centre.
It will be possible to pay for the service with Riga resident’s card in parking meters or with a smartphone using special application.
The Chairman of Riga City Council, Nils Ušakovs, says that it is planned to vote for these proposals at the council’s meeting of March 1. “We have found a way how we can keep our promise to introduce new benefits for holders of Riga resident’s card. We have worked together with lawyers and believe that we will get all the necessary approvals from the Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development, so that on July 1 Riga residents could start enjoying these benefits.”
The Public Relations Section of Riga City Council
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