Navigating Nizhny Novgorod's Public Transportation: A Few Surprises Along the Way

Public transportation in Nizhny Novgorod has seen a price hike lately – the fare is now 40 rubles in cash and 35 rubles with a card. That's a 5-ruble increase, but it feels like a bit of a jump. I remembered the Sitycard, which can help you save on transfers and subscription passes for a set period or number of rides. It works on the transportation types you choose, but there's a catch – you'll still have to pay the usual fare on commercial buses. I'm not sure the point of waiting for a city bus to save on the fare, but I do take the metro to work, and that's a definite plus.

Since I've got NFC on my phone, I decided to get a virtual card. I downloaded the Sitycard app.

I was curious to see what the interface looked like:

The app has a pretty straightforward interface:

You can even set up fingerprint login:

You can also create a widget that opens the card directly:

I set up a virtual card for 100 rubles a year.

Initially, I loaded an electronic wallet with the option to transfer to another mode of transportation within 60 minutes for free. I added 100 rubles to the balance to test the NFC functionality. That's when I encountered the first glitch. If you top up your balance via Sberbank's online banking, you might experience some issues and error messages. But the money eventually made it to my account.

I checked it on the terminal – it works:

I went for the 30-trip plan for 700 rubles. On paper, I'd be paying 35 rubles instead of 24, and that's a pretty sweet deal. The catch is that the plan only lasts for a month, and you can't upgrade to a new plan until that month is over. Given that I have around 20-22 working days in a month, I'd be left with a handful of days where I'd have to pay the usual rate. Or, I'd have to shell out another 100 rubles for a new virtual card.

But things took a turn for the interesting, and I'll get to that later. For now, I'm still trying to pay for the plan change:

What's going on?

So, I decided to pay with my card instead of using Sberbank's mobile payment system. That only made things worse - when I transitioned to my bank's app, the Siticard app lost its payment page and instead showed me a notice about my outstanding balance for the new plan.

Then, I had to wait around an hour for the transaction to be cancelled. And then, I had to do it all over again.

But that's not all.

When I tried to change my plan, I discovered that all the money on my balance gets wiped out. So, I had to spend 100 rubles, and then change my plan. Moral of the story: if you're testing the app, make sure to put in enough money to cover at least one trip.

After changing my plan, I got another nasty surprise.

The plan only lasts until the end of the month in which you activated it, not the entire month. So, if I activated my plan on July 13th, my trips would expire on July 31st. There's no mention of this anywhere in the app. If I'd activated my plan on the 30th, I'd have basically donated 700 rubles to the Ministry of Transport.

I've found that the 30-trip pass is a bit of a letdown, especially considering the average number of working days in a month is around 40-46. It's just not enough to get you through the month. If you want to save some cash, you can always top up your card and get a new virtual one, which will work until the first one gets updated.

The terminal card works like a charm, and I can even use it for myself and my family members. However, the unlimited passes don't allow for that. You'll have to wait until the driver or conductor finishes their route and opens a new one.

Unlimited passes are a good idea if you're constantly on the go throughout the day, but if you have a regular job or live in a fixed location, it's better to opt for a pass with a set number of trips. The ones with transfers are convenient if you're taking multiple types of transportation.

I've also tried paying with my phone in the bus, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. The terminal on the driver's side doesn't recognize it, but the one on the handle does.

I'm still discovering the quirks of this system, and I'm not sure what other surprises are in store for me. The customer support is a bit slow to respond, but they usually get back to you within two days.

For example, I asked why my pass wasn't activated, and they responded with a generic answer that didn't really address my question. However, the pass did activate itself when I first used it.

To be honest, there is some savings to be had, but there are also a lot of traps to watch out for. I'm tempted to rant about it in the hopes that they'll actually fix some of these issues.

Update after a couple of months of use:

1. If your pass expires within the month and you change your tariff or top up your balance, it will start working from the beginning of the next month. The support team told me that if you buy a pass before the 15th, it will work for the rest of the month, but if you buy it after the 15th, it will start working in the next month.

2. If you're happy with the plan, just top it up (although it's not immediately obvious, since the card only lasts until the end of the month and you don't want to lose money on an expiring card... In reality, it will be updated at the start of the month if you've added funds).

A year later:

I've had instances where the credit was added to my card balance, but it wasn't showing up on my balance. In that case, a support ticket helped resolve the issue. But it wasn't immediate.

Also, since I quit my job, I hadn't used the card for a while, but when I decided to renew it, it again asked for the 100 ruble renewal fee. This isn't a minus - it's just worth noting that the electronic pass isn't perpetual.