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Free public bus transportation in Greater Goiânia. This one is for real.
So once in a while, the Rede Municipal de Transporte Colletivo de Goiânia (RMTC) launches a new program. The launched the “Quick recharge your SitPass with a Credit Card” and it got on the TV-news, the newspaper. They interviewed persons and everyone was happy with this solution but this program worked for only several days. See the article in the newspaper “O Popular” . They also made an app for the Google Store and the Apple store. It started to work on day 21/03/2016 and ended on 30/03/2016, only nine days later, while in São Paulo and some other regions this system still works. Well, I think that’s Goiânia. I remember this because if you used the system it was you, the user. that had to pay the 5% extra to use your credit card.
The public transportation in Goiânia is a mess, too many persons that need to take the bus to go to work or school, and only a few buses to take the whole population by bus to work or whatever.
There also is a program to get a free bus ride. You pay the first ride and get the second ride for free. Most of the people heard about it, but yeah, is it valid or not. This is Goiânia, so you never know. Well, the answer to this one is YES.
There are several cards with credit on it in circulation. The most famous one is the SitPass Fácil, and there is a card for students and elderly persons. But you also have the “SITPASS INTEGRAÇÃO” and that’s the card that I want to talk about. The SitePass Fácil is the most popular because your employer only can pay for you bus fare to get to work on this type of card. It´s a law that you can get for free from and to your work. The nice part of this is that you can sell your credit and use it on the “SITPASS INTEGRAÇÂO“. There is a little charge, but the benefit is will pay off.
Cartão-Integração
The card “SITPASS INTEGRAÇÃO” gives you a free ride, with some rules. It is valid for 2 hours, from the moment you pass the card to enter the bus and the moment you enter the bus to return. You also are not allowed to use the card on the same bus to get back home for example. But if you change from one line to another inside a terminal and you leave the terminal for example with bus 600, you can use bus 600 to get back for free because you don´t have to use your card to get in bus 600 in the terminal.
Well, this sounds too good to be true. You need a special card, with a photo ID and your name on it. You have to create it online and after some day you can collect it at the store of Sitt-Pass in the Center of Goiânia. Use this link to create your online account and get your free bus fare in Goiânia. You need a 3×4 picture, a proof of residence and CPF. Your account is approved in 2 or 3 days, you have to check the site to find out. If it is approved you (and you only) can collect your brand new card at the SitPass Store, located at “Loja Sitpass from 08:00 to 17:30 hrs, at Rua 04 nº 515, Edifício Parthenon Center, Centro”. The card is Free, you don´t have to pay for it.
There is also an app, “SIM Rmtc” that works on all popular phone platforms and is really useful to plan your trip inside the city.
If you use it wisely, the application and the new card, you can save up to 50% on your bus fare that at the moment is R$ 3,80. So you can save every time you use the card R$ 3,80.(Soon it will be R$ 4,00)
The technique used on the cards in NFC (Near Field Communication). When you have a smart phone and have turned on the NFC function on your phone it starts to make funny sounds when you pass your card close to it.
Share this article with your friends, so they can also save on the expensive, Rede Municipal de Transporte Colletivo de Goiânia. (RMTC)