Buenos Aires To Get ‘Electronic’ Transportation Cards

Peace in the Middle East? A man (or woman) on Mars? Free, non-polluting, renewable gasoline? Non caloric Krispy Kreme Donuts? 

Well, not quite. But the news we’ve confirmed is still pretty sweet:

The City of Buenos Aires is finally scrapping its anachronistic public transportation payment system and replacing it with a single “electronic” card system that will allow you to prepay for bus, subway and train trips. 

A Transportation Secretariat official confirmed the plan, but was unable to provide many details. In a radio interview Friday, however, Transportation Secretary Ricardo Jaime said the new system should be up and running within three months. The Secretariat has mentioned plans for an electronic card system before, but this is first time (I know of) that anyone has publicly provided a time frame for its implementation.

If all goes according to plan, the system will be in place by May, meaning, presumably, that by then nobody will have to scramble to find coins. If it works, the government, in one fell swoop, will have eliminated one of its most embarrassing and persistent problems: a lack of coins that has been a source of frustration for countless commuters and the butt of jokes in countless newspaper and magazine articles. Truly, it will be a thing to celebrate.

The government is set to announce details of the plan Wednesday.

*Photo is of New York City’s Metro Card

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