Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım launched a new payment platform on Thursday that will allow consumers to use services throughout the country, significantly simplifying public travel arrangements.
Yıldırım, speaking at the signing ceremony held in Ankara, said the post office PTT, Turk Telekom communication company, Turkcell mobile phone company, Denizbank, Vakıf Participation Bank, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Electronic Money and Payment Services Ltd. (BELBİM) were cooperating to introduce a new multipurpose payment method.
The card, while allowing money transfers and payment services, is basically an integration platform, said the prime minister, that will allow municipalities across the nation providing public transportation services to amalgamate their payment methods so that people from any province will be able use the card to get on public buses.
Each and every province and municipality has their own public transportation payment method, with some using debit cards, others using stubs or other systems. The new platform will allow one card to serve all.
Yıldırım said people no longer needed to carry dozens of cards.
"This platform can be summarized as a one card payment system. This will save time and increase the efficiency of record keeping," he said.
The prime minister added that the technology needed has been around for two decades, saying, "When our president [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] was the Istanbul mayor, I served as his manager of sea transportation. We told BELBİM to create a single universal method of payment, eliminating tokens. It's been 24 years since we established the current Akbil system."
He said almost 40 percent of Turkey's population does not have bank accounts.
"We still have a lot to do in terms of digitalization. Sixty percent of all purchases are made with the money in our pocket. This card also allows people to securely spend their money. Citizens who do not have a bank account will be able to use debit cards through this system," the prime minister added.
People will be able to withdraw money from ATMs and deposit money using their cellphones with the new payment method.
