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More than 162 000 active users have registered and bought a ticket through the online platform https://bileti.bdz.bg, which was implemented by Information Services at BDZ Passenger Transport. The portal allows ticket purchases at any time of the day, from anywhere in the world, with the option to choose a seat or sleeper through a per-train scheme. Nearly 1 million rail tickets worth more than 20 million levs have been sold through the site since 2019, with nearly 315,000 sales since the beginning of 2024 alone. This shows that more and more users are taking advantage of the convenience the platform offers.
"The online rail ticketing system saves a lot of time and costs for citizens, who do not have to go to railway stations to book a trip," said Ivaylo Filipov, CEO of Information Services. According to him, this significantly improves the quality of the services offered by the national carrier.
The developed functionality for online ticket purchase is part of the centralised system for real-time ticketing and booking of BDZ Passenger Transport, which was put into operation in December 2017. Since then, nearly 43 million tickets worth more than 270 million levs have been sold. The system fully meets the business needs of the national carrier for domestic ticketing in Bulgaria and covers 102 stations and stops as well as 5 city ticket offices. The platform covers all rail routes and over 600 trains.
Information Services has additionally developed functionality that allows ticketing by the conductor directly on the train. This makes it much easier for users who use BDZ from stations where there are no ticket offices. Ticketing will be done via a mobile device that is connected via a mobile network to the central server, and a mobile printer. So far, nearly 230,000 tickets have been sold by conductors through 194 mobile devices (PDAs). It is expected that from January 2025, PDAs will be able to accept card payments, which will further facilitate users.