By Shafaat Ahmed www.khaleejtimes.com
Rewarding loyal customers and regular travellers, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is planning to launch a Nol monthly pass for a fixed price soon.
Though much details of the card were unavailable, Abdullah Al Madani, CEO of RTA’s Corporate Support Services Sector, said that the card is in the process of being finalised and all the details like the price, availability and eligibility criteria would be announced soon.
The monthly pass would be launched around the same time that the much anticipated Combi card, which will act both as a credit/debit card and a Nol card, is also expected to arrive.
“The combi card, through which people would be able to enjoy dual benefits of a Nol card as well as a credit/debit card, would be available in the market by Q4 of 2011,” said Al Madani exclusively to Khaleej Times.
Al Madani explained that apart from the obvious benefits of the credit card, the combi card would also have additional option of auto top-up of the NoL purse. But the facility is optional and a person while applying for the combi card would have to opt for it to avail the service. This will make sure that once the purse value goes below a pre-selected minimum amount, it will auto-top up the purse to another pre-selected value.
Al Madani said that the system will ensure that a customer won’t have to keep track of his purse and he won’t have to wait in queue at the stations and top-up the card.
The card would be personalised like the Nol blue cards with a picture and name of the holder passed on it, ensuring that it won’t be misused.
Although it wasn’t officially confirmed, sources close to both RTA and EmiratesNBD said that the card is likely to be free for the bank’s existing customers, while the fee for new customers is not known yet.
The two specialised cards come close on the heels of RTA’s recent launch of a daily pass as well as free pass and discounted fares for people with special needs, students and senior Emirati citizens respectively. These cards have been available to eligible candidates since March 15.
A daily pass costs Dh14 for unlimited trips, which can be extended for up to three days for Dh42.
Several online Nol services were also launched recently like the online top-up facility, tracking of applications for blue cards, reporting lost cards, and accessing transaction history.
