Public transport: Deadline for POSs to be extended; Taxes: There will be no immediate penalties

2026-05-28 22:30:25, Aktualitet CNA

Public transport: Deadline for POSs to be extended; Taxes: There will be no

With two days left until the mandatory installation of POS terminals in the public transport service sector, the associations unanimously declare that they are not yet ready to deploy the equipment and are requesting an extension of the deadline.

For urban and interurban public transport associations, the issue of cost sharing for the bank commission that will increase the ticket price by 30 lek if paid by bank card remains unclear. The lack of preparation of technical conditions for the use of the equipment also remains a problem, where the installation of the Wiffi internet service is minimally required for the device to function. But this service does not exist in public transport in the country.

In this situation of uncertainty about the cost share in a service with a low transaction value (the ticket price costs 40 lek), but high in number, and due to the lack of preparation of technical conditions, the Chairman of the Urban and Interurban Transport Association, Dashnor Memaj, told Monitor that the deadline should be extended until a series of questions from the operators are clarified.

"The problem is that we currently do not have a fiscalized electronic ticket system and we still operate with traditional physical tickets."

Also, it remains unclear how the payment connection with the bank will be implemented. In any normal sale of a product, there are different payment options: cash, bank card or other electronic forms. How will this be applied to urban and interurban transport?

Another issue is the technical infrastructure. How will the equipment on the buses work, with Wi-Fi or with a SIM card for internet? This also constitutes an additional cost for each vehicle. Currently, there is no online system where citizens can wait for their ticket from the web or application.

Also, there are no agencies or departure and arrival points equipped to issue tickets even with bank cards. In this situation, the question arises: who will cover the costs of bank transactions, which will consequently increase the price of the ticket? Will the subject, the citizen or the institutions pay them?

Therefore, there are still many questions that need to be analyzed and seriously discussed before the mandatory implementation of this system on buses is decided. I think that the deadline should be postponed until the costs are fully clarified, which, due to the large number of transactions, reach a considerable value”, stated Mr. Memaj.

The Tax Administration explained to Monitor that no extensions are foreseen for the deadlines for installing POS devices on public transport, an obligation already defined in law.

But administration leaders emphasized that no immediate penalties are currently foreseen for entities and that operators should begin preparations for implementing the process.

"The focus of the initiative to implement POS devices is to support tourism so that tourists can pay with a bank card."

"There is no immediate pressure being created on the operators of the public transport service sector. There is work to push the process forward without penalizing the entities. So, the immediate installation of POS devices for tickets that are currently issued in paper format will not be required, while the process has been left in a transitional phase without penalties, with the aim of addressing all concerns raised by the public transport operators as soon as possible," administration representatives said.

One of the main concerns of operators remains who will bear the fixed commission cost of 30 lek, for a transaction worth 40 lek, which is the price of an urban ticket.

Monitor learns that the issues and concerns raised by the sector are being discussed with the Ministry of Economy, which is leading the process of transitioning to cashless payments. The Ministry of Economy has also held meetings with banks to analyze the costs of financial transactions and how a solution can be found to cover them.

"It still remains to be discussed at the policy-making level where the cost of financial transactions will be charged, to the citizen, entities or institutions," the sources claimed.

Concerns about the unclear implementation of the process and the issue of cost were initially raised by the National Association of Urban Transport. In a letter sent to the ministries, the association stressed that the use of a POS device for ticket payment will increase the price by 30 lek from fixed commissions to banks if the ticket is paid by bank card.

The National Association of Urban Transport also raised concerns that the process remains unclear, but also technically almost unworkable for the current conditions of urban transport./ Monitor.al