SUBE card

The SUBE card (standing for Sistema Único de Boleto Electrónico; literal English translation: Unique Electronic Ticket System) is a contactless smart card system introduced in Argentina in February 2009. It is used on public transport services within the Buenos Aires metropolitan area and other Argentine cities and was promoted by the Argentine Secretary of Transportation. It is valid on a number of different travel systems across the city including the Underground, buses and trains.

SUBE Card
LocationArgentina
LaunchedFebruary 2009
Technology
OperatorNación Servicios S.A
CurrencyARS
Credit expiryNone
Retailed
  • Online
  • Telephone
  • Stations
Variants
  • Monedero card
WebsiteSUBE.gob.ar

One of the benefits of this change is that it has helped speed passengers on to the bus. People no longer had to wait to be issued a printed receipt as they each enter the bus. Environmentally this should help reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen because buses don't have to idle as long while passengers load, helping improve air quality in the city. The electronic ticket is eliminating the printed receipts thus lowering the amount of littering in the city. The city, in turn, no longer have to process, collect, count, and transport coinage received in payment of some 11 million trips per day.[1]

Background

Buenos Aires was affected for several years by an acute coin shortage that impacted the economy, banking, and transportation. Coins are still rationed by banks, and a thriving black market has been hoarding to sell coins illegally to retailers.[2] Merchants have been rounding prices up or down according to the amount of change a customer actually has, or bartering, and making up the difference with a menial item. The fact that the vast majority of users need to purchase ahead sufficient credit for tickets and passes including highways tolls even for a complete month makes the SUBE card system carry a float of several million pesos which allows for financial backing of various activities at local government level and also, it took too much time for the customers to pay with coins in a rushing city with millions of people. The system is administered by Banco de la Nacion Argentina.

Use

The SUBE card can be used on several transports method, including Greater Buenos Aires area Buses, Trains, Buenos Aires Metro, and several toll roads. Furthermore, the system has expanded to the mayor cities of Argentina: among others Mar del Plata, Villa Gesell, Partido de La Costa, Pinamar, Bahía Blanca, Corrientes, Neuquén, Río Grande, Ushuaia, Formosa, San Salvador de Jujuy, Paraná and Santa Fe,[3]

Bus
SUBE Certified ticket validator for buses

According to official SUBE website[4] it can be used in all national, province and municipal buses lines within Greater Buenos Aires Area. Here is the full list:

National Lines

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 140, 141, 143, 146, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, 188, 193, 194, 195.

Province Lines

200, 202, 203, 204, 205, 214, 215, 218, 219, 222, 228, 236, 237, 238, 239, 242, 243, 245, 247, 252, 253, 256, 257, 263, 264, 266, 269, 271, 273, 275, 276, 277, 278, 281, 283, 284, 288, 289, 291, 293, 295, 297, 298, 299, 300, 304, 306, 307, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 333, 336, 338, 340, 341, 343, 350, 354, 355, 364, 365, 370, 371, 372, 373, 378, 379, 382, 383, 384, 385, 388, 391, 392, 394, 395, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 410, 418, 421, 422, 429, 430, 432, 435, 436, 437, 440, 441, 443, 445, 446, 448, 44.

Municipal Lines
  • Almirante Brown: 501(A), 505, 506(C), 510(A), 514, 515 and 521(B).
  • Avellaneda: 570.
  • Berazategui: 603 and 619.
  • Brandsen: 500(B).
  • Campana: 505(A).
  • Cañuelas: 502.
  • Escobar: 503(B), 505(A), 506(B), 507(B), 508(A), 511(A) and 513(A).
  • Esteban Echeverría: 501(C).
  • Ezeiza: 518.
  • Florencio Varela: 500(F), 501(E), 502(C), 503(D), 504(C), 505(B/C), 506(D), 507, 508(B), 509(B), 510(C), 511(C), 512(C) and 513(B).
  • General Rodríguez: 500(A).
  • General San Martín: 670.
  • José C. Paz: 741 and 749.
  • La Matanza: 620, 621, 622, 624, 628 and 630.
  • La Plata: East, West, North and South lines.
  • Lanús: 520(B), 521(A), 522, 523, 524, 526 and 527.
  • Lobos: 501(D) and 502(A).
  • Lomas de Zamora: 532, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 561, 562 and 564.
  • Luján: 500(C), 501(F), 502(B), 503(E).
  • Mercedes: 1(B) and 2(B).
  • Merlo: 500(D), 503(A) and 504(A).
  • Moreno: 500(D), 501(G) and 503.
  • Morón: 634, 635.
  • Pilar: 501(B/I/H), 506(A), 510(B), 511(B), 520(A).
  • Quilmes: 580, 582, 583, 584 and 585.
  • San Fernando: 710.
  • San Isidro: 707.
  • San Miguel: 740.
  • San Vicente: 503(C).
  • Tigre: 720, 721, 722 and 723.
  • Zárate: 500(E) and 503(F).

Buenos Aires Underground

All lines including:[5]

Trains

All the following lines:[6]

Tolls roads

From the beginning of 2014,[7] several tolls road could be paid by SUBE card:[8]

  • Autopistas del Oeste
  • Autopistas del Sol

Controversies

The project was led by Global Infrastructure (GI), owned by the British businessman Stephen Chandler. The Argentine newspaper La Nación noted that the fiscal address of GI was that of a local hairdresser,[9] and their employees were not actually working for GI nor receiving the informed payments.[10] The secretary of transport had also chosen Global Infrastructure despite being $10,000,000 more expensive than other offerings.[11] La Nación also pointed out that GI did not exist before the tender.[12] When all this info came to light, the contract with GI was cancelled.[13]

See also

References
  1. Clarín: Volvieron las monedas a la calle (8/15/2009) (in Spanish)
  2. Piette, Candice "Argentina Acts to End the Coin Crisis" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7871111.stm
  3. SUBE: Official search for places of use (in Spanish)
  4. SUBE: Official Bus lines(in Spanish)
  5. SUBE: Metro lines(in Spanish)
  6. SUBE: Train lines(in Spanish)
  7. Announcement of SUBE payment on Toll roads(in Spanish)
  8. SUBE: Toll roads(in Spanish)
  9. Iván Ruiz (June 21, 2012). "La SUBE, desde una peluquería" [The SUBE, from a hairdressing local]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  10. Ivan Ruiz (July 11, 2012). "SUBE: la contrataron por un millón de pesos, pero nunca se enteró" [SUBE: They hired her for a million pesos, but she never knew it]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  11. Ivan Ruiz. "Controlar el SUBE: Transporte contrató una oferta 10 millones más cara" [Control of the SUBE: Transport took an offering 10 million more expensive]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  12. Ivan Ruiz (June 6, 2012). "La empresa inglesa que controla la SUBE no existía antes de la licitación" [The British firm that controls the SUBE did not exist before the tender]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  13. Ivan Ruiz (October 5, 2012). "Cancelan el contrato de supervisión de la SUBE" [The contract of supervision of the SUBE is cancelled]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2012.
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