Ho Chi Minh City has rolled out NAPAS contactless card payments on 30 bus routes with more than 600 vehicles from September 16.

Passengers can now use domestic ATM cards issued by 28 banks, along with smartphones and smartwatches with digitised NAPAS cards, to pay directly on board.

According to the city’s Public Transport Management Centre, contactless payment is currently available on 96 bus routes with 1,456 vehicles and will be expanded to all 138 routes with over 2,200 vehicles in the future.

Deputy Director of the center, Mr. Le Hoang, said the adoption of contactless payments will help speed up boarding, reduce queues, limit cash transactions, and enhance passenger experience, thereby encouraging more residents to use public transport.