Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia introduced Monday the electronic system for validating public transportation tickets and passes.

The new method of charging passengers will be applied in trams and trolleys across the city, while those, who travel by bus, are to continue using the paper tickets.

The initial idea was that the system would start functioning on July 1 but the process was delayed.

Sofia's residents would be able to purchase the new electronic passes then and they would be valid for one, three or six months.

Residents and visitors would also be able to purchase electronic passes for 5 or 10 trips.

Individuals such as retirees or disabled people, who can use discounts, will have electronic passes whose memory will include personal data. Those passes are also going to have the scanned picture of the person using the discount.

The proposal for introducing a 50% discount for transport cards for teachers and pedagogical staff was rejected by the councilors. Sofia Municipality servants however are to use the public transport means for free.

The penalty fee for a fake pass is set at BGN 100.

The councilors decided that the citizens living near the so-called "blue zone" in downtown capital city would be able to buy annual vignettes for parking there for BGN 70. That way they will not have to pay for hourly tickets.

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