Metromoney and Bank Cards: Tbilisi's Bank-Run Fare Payment System
This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.
16 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.
How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page
Tbilisi's bus ticket machines were bought by a bank, not the transport operator. In 2022 the city doubled the single fare to GEL 1 and tied it to 90 minutes of free transfers.
what does this mean?
The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,222 documented projects · 🏙️ 5 more in Tbilisi · 🎫 Smart ticketing guide · 🚲 Mobility projects
Tbilisi's metro, bus and cable-car fares run through a payment system the city has left to a commercial bank. In 2008 the buyer of 1400 ticket machines for its buses, taking contactless cards and coins, was Bank of Georgia rather than the transport operator, and in 2017 the bank won the exclusive right to upgrade the payment system. Riders tap the Metromoney card or a bank card; in July 2019 cards from Bank of Georgia, VTB and Cartu bank were accepted, with TBC to follow. Since 1 February 2022 a fare of GEL 1 buys 90 minutes of unlimited travel, passes run from a day to a year, and minibuses joined the joint payment system. Paying by mobile app or cash forfeits the 90-minute package. In 2019 the bank also completed a trial of paying by face at metro gates.
📊 Impact
The 2022 reform made a 90-minute ride cost GEL 1, twice the previous tariff. FactCheck.ge, testing an opposition MP's claim that pensioners would need loans to buy passes, found that the discounted fares were kept: pensioners still pay 20 tetri and need no pass, and it rated the claim a lie. No source found measures how ridership changed after the reform.
🎓 Lesson
Tbilisi shows that a city can contract out the payment rails and still set fare policy. The ticket machines were bought by Bank of Georgia and the upgrade right went to the bank, yet in 2022 City Hall rebuilt the tariff around a 90-minute fare and time passes and folded the minibuses into the joint payment system. What the arrangement shapes is acceptance: in 2019 the gates took cards from three banks while a fourth was still to be added, and the bank used the gates for its own face-payment trial. A city that hands the rails to one bank needs open card acceptance and access to the fare data written into the contract, because the passenger's choice of card follows the bank's agreements.
Sources
Show 2 more sourcesShow fewer
📅 How old is the evidence?
Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2008. 6 of 7 sources carry a publication date, from 9 September 2008 to 14 February 2022.
When the sources were published
- Evertiq · pressEvertiq — Mikroelektronika delivers new ticketing system for Tbilisi (2008)
- Georgia Capital · vendorGeorgia Capital — JSC Bank of Georgia wins the exclusive right to upgrade the public transportation payment system in Tbilisi (2017)
- The Messenger · pressThe Messenger — Tourists to pay with foreign bank cards in Tbilisi busses, metro (2019)
- Biometric Update · pressBiometric Update — Georgia completes trial of face biometrics payments for subway system (2019)
- Civil Georgia · pressCivil.ge — Public Transport Prices to Hike as Tbilisi Introduces Subscription System (2021)
- FactCheck Georgia · ngoFactCheck.ge — Pensioners and the new Tbilisi transport passes (verdict on an MP's claim, 2022)
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 16 claims with their sources · the forensic record
Evidence file · public beta 16 addressable claims, 7 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.
Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 16
The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.
clm-1d5dd5bbb613db37
descriptive
Tbilisi's metro, bus and cable-car fares run through a payment system the city has left to a commercial bank
Sources carrying this claim
clm-5bcf4a7a9c601776
quantitative
In 2008 the buyer of 1400 ticket machines for its buses, taking contactless cards and coins, was Bank of Georgia rather than the transport operator
Sources carrying this claim
clm-4b1b813ed2c971a2
quantitative
in 2017 the bank won the exclusive right to upgrade the payment system
Sources carrying this claim
clm-98ec8b9982da6984
descriptive
Riders tap the Metromoney card or a bank card
Sources carrying this claim
clm-78ca5588889456c9
quantitative
in July 2019 cards from Bank of Georgia, VTB and Cartu bank were accepted, with TBC to follow
Sources carrying this claim
clm-64a9a552b68a6ec6
quantitative
Since 1 February 2022 a fare of GEL 1 buys 90 minutes of unlimited travel
Sources carrying this claim
clm-3c12910d2b15367b
descriptive
passes run from a day to a year
Sources carrying this claim
clm-7bf6bb944704ec70
descriptive
minibuses joined the joint payment system
Sources carrying this claim
clm-4d0ba55f24e90134
quantitative
Paying by mobile app or cash forfeits the 90-minute package
Sources carrying this claim
clm-762b4f3e05216892
quantitative
In 2019 the bank also completed a trial of paying by face at metro gates
Sources carrying this claim
clm-6d2d26101387056c
quantitative
The 2022 reform made a 90-minute ride cost GEL 1, twice the previous tariff
Sources carrying this claim
clm-1f6900948a0451af
quantitative
FactCheck.ge, testing an opposition MP's claim that pensioners would need loans to buy passes, found that the discounted fares were kept: pensioners still pay 20 tetri and need no pass, and it rated the claim a lie
Sources carrying this claim
clm-4b7dbea0ca253242
descriptive
The ticket machines were bought by Bank of Georgia and the upgrade right went to the bank
Sources carrying this claim
clm-ae75ba8efc27f03f
quantitative
in 2022 City Hall rebuilt the tariff around a 90-minute fare and time passes and folded the minibuses into the joint payment system
Sources carrying this claim
clm-49e03a1b52922543
quantitative
in 2019 the gates took cards from three banks while a fourth was still to be added
Sources carrying this claim
clm-8138a2f6f2fe6d9b
descriptive
the bank used the gates for its own face-payment trial
Sources carrying this claim
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders
This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.
Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.
sha256:d95c0cc16b5bdc42681faa85bf1f7445c82dbf940e786d0fd0d682fb27e49bba
- 16
- of 16 claims mapped
- 7
- source dossiers
- 6
- publication dates recorded
- 0
- archives linked
- 0
- exact locators
- 0
- content captures hashed
Governance facts carried by the record
- Operator
- Tbilisi Transport Company (owned by Tbilisi City Hall) runs the metro, buses and cable cars; Bank of Georgia holds the exclusive right, won in 2017, to upgrade the public transport payment system
- Actor types
- city-government, private
- Funding model
- Not recorded
- Funding description
- The 2008 ticket machines for Tbilisi's buses were purchased by Bank of Georgia, not by the transport operator.
- Cost
- Not recorded
- Ownership
- Not recorded
- Decision rights
- Not recorded
- Exit conditions
- Not recorded
7 source dossiers
Evertiq — Mikroelektronika delivers new ticketing system for Tbilisi (2008)
- Stable source ID
src-0b3cb39da66f2492- Publisher
- Name not classified · evertiq.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2008-09-09
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Trade press report that the Czech manufacturer Mikroelektronika signed a contract to supply 1400 compact ticket machines for Tbilisi's local buses, accepting contactless cards and coins, with implementation from October; it notes that the purchaser was not the transport operator but Bank of Georgia.
- Claims linked
Georgia Capital — JSC Bank of Georgia wins the exclusive right to upgrade the public transportation payment system in Tbilisi (2017)
- Stable source ID
src-4a2c3cf9fa5545d4- Publisher
- Name not classified · georgiacapital.ge
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2017-08-01
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Company news item from the bank's former parent group, dated 1 August 2017, announcing that JSC Bank of Georgia won the exclusive right to upgrade Tbilisi's public transport payment system. The archived page carries the headline and date only.
The Messenger — Tourists to pay with foreign bank cards in Tbilisi busses, metro (2019)
- Stable source ID
src-cf60f1c8cea8a109- Publisher
- Name not classified · messenger.com.ge
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2019-07-12
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Report on the Deputy Mayor's statement that fares could already be paid with the Metromoney card and with bank cards of Bank of Georgia, VTB and Cartu bank, that TBC would be added shortly, and that the city aimed to accept foreign cards; the one-way fare was then 50 tetri.
- Claims linked
Biometric Update — Georgia completes trial of face biometrics payments for subway system (2019)
- Stable source ID
src-fe1f551113eea544- Publisher
- Name not classified · biometricupdate.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2019-12-18
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Trade press, based on the vendor Riddletag's announcement: testing of face-recognition payment in the Tbilisi metro was completed in partnership with Bank of Georgia, which provides financial services to the transit system; riders enrol through the bank's app, the system was expected to go live at one station and the bank planned to extend it to 30 more stations.
- Claims linked
Civil.ge — Public Transport Prices to Hike as Tbilisi Introduces Subscription System (2021)
- Stable source ID
src-09b3071fa9c494d7- Publisher
- Name not classified · civil.ge
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2021-12-22
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
News report on the Mayor's announcement of a subscription-based fare system from February 2022, unified across buses, metro and blue and yellow minibuses: a 90-minute pass for GEL 1, twice the previous tariff, plus daily, weekly, monthly, three-month, six-month and yearly passes, with discount categories kept.
FactCheck.ge — Pensioners and the new Tbilisi transport passes (verdict on an MP's claim, 2022)
- Stable source ID
src-0252335342d3e676- Publisher
- Name not classified · factcheck.ge
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2022-02-14
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Independent fact-check of an MP's claim that pensioners would need loans to buy the new passes: it states that from 1 February 2022 the single fare became GEL 1 instead of GEL 0.5, that minibus service was included in the joint payment system, and that pensioners keep the reduced 20-tetri fare and need no pass; verdict: lie.
Tbilisi Transport Company — Standard tariff
- Stable source ID
src-7d46a1ba90d21c46- Publisher
- Name not classified · ttc.com.ge
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-11-04
- Dossier created
- 2026-11-04
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The operator's current fare rules: GEL 1 for 90 minutes of unlimited travel on metro, bus, minibus and the Bagebi-University ropeway, payable with the Metromoney card or bank cards; passes from 1 day (GEL 3) to 1 year (GEL 250); paying by mobile application or cash does not give the 90-minute package.
Known limits of this file
- Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
- Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
- A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
- The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.
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📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Metromoney and Bank Cards: Tbilisi's Bank-Run Fare Payment System” — Tbilisi, Georgia. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/tbilisi-metromoney-fare-system/ (last verified 2026-11-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.
