The FALA system for visitors – a pack of practical information
How to travel by public transport around the Tri-City with FALA?
Your pay card is all you need. You will find devices enabling the purchase of electronic tickets on board of each and every vehicle. Note! The service is not yet available on trains or regional rail routes.
Who can use the FALA system and what for?
The FALA system is a set of tools which will make your travels by public transport around the Tri-City easier and more eco. Thanks to FALA, you need not look for a ticket kiosk or ticket vending machine – you will find a ‘kiosk’, i.e. a device called ‘falomat’, on board of each and every vehicle (bus, trolley, and tram). In the future, you will also find it on railway platforms and at railway stations.
You are most welcome to travel by public transport around the Tri-City using the FALA system. Buying a ticket with us will be swift, convenient, and easy.
What do the FALA system devices look like?
These are black-and-yellow devices bearing the logo of the Pomeranian Voivodship. You will also find a card reader at every entrance on board of each vehicle.
FALOMATS – you will find a falomat, i.e. a ticket vending machine of the FALA system, mounted approximately centrally on board of the vehicle. You select the tickets you want to buy on the touchscreen. You can buy several tickets, including any of the reduced-fare type, using nothing else but the device. You confirm the transaction and pay by touching your pay card on the payment terminal you will find in the lower part of the falomat. The operation is recorded in the FALA system, and should you be inspected, you just touch the card you used to buy the ticket on the inspector’s device.
READERS – in another variant, you can buy your ticket automatically by swiping your pay card against a reader, i.e. the smaller device installed at the entrance. Every passenger availing himself/herself to this option will automatically buy a full-price ticket for one travel. All you need to do is to check in; there is no need to check out. By touching your pay card on the reader you buy your ticket, and you will see it confirmed in a message reading that your travel has begun, displayed on the screen.
How to buy 1 ticket?
By touching your pay card on the reader of a falomat in the Tri-City you will buy one single-journey ticket for PLN 4.80. You will see information on the completed ticket purchase displayed on the reader in the following message: ‘Journey begun [Podróż rozpoczęta]’.
How to buy more tickets, or a reduced-fare ticket?
If you want to buy more tickets or a single ticket at the selected reduced fare, use the falomat. All you need to do is to select the specific ticket types on the touchscreen of the falomat, and swipe your pay card once against the device. The falomat will display information on the ticket you have bought in the following message: ‘Transaction accepted. Have a good journey’ [‘Transakcja zaakceptowana. Udanej podróży’].
IMPORTANT! The payment for the ticket will show on your bank account on the following day the earliest. This is because the system adds up all transactions of the day first, following which the transactions are transmitted to the bank for settlement. The debit for the ticket will show on your bank account in one or even several days depending on the bank.
A single-journey ticket entitles you to take a travel on one bus/trolley/tram as of the day and time you punch your paper ticket or buy an electronic ticket on the mobile application and up to the moment you leave the vehicle.
What do you need to remember when travelling with a FALA system pay card?
- Once you have purchased a ticket with a pay card using a falomat or reader (a FALA system device) the ticket charge will be debited from your banking account and shown on the following day the soonest.
- When you buy a ticket with a pay card, you may be charged the pre-authorisation fee which will be repaid to your account.
- On inspection, touch the pay card you used to buy the ticket on the inspector’s device. The card will generate a unique number called the token, which enables checking whether a ticket has been bought using the specific card. The inspector has no access to any data of your card.
- By placing your pay card against the reader or falomat, you will automatically buy one full-fare ticket for one journey. Repeating card swipes after boarding the vehicle will not buy you several tickets.
- To buy several tickets, or a reduced-fare ticket, use the falomat (the device placed in mid-section of the vehicle and select the specific ticket types on the touchscreen.
What is the pre-authorisation fee, and is it paid back to the client?
Paying for the ticket with a pay card on a falomat or reader you can expect to be charged the so-called -pre-authorisation fee, which is typically PLN 1, though it can differ from bank to bank.
This temporary blocking of funds on the client’s account is intended to secure the transaction, and is typically charged just once.
You need not worry though, since the monies will always be paid back to your account upon verification of your card.
The time it takes to have the funds returned differs depending on the bank which processes it, and is out of the FALA system’s hands.
How are tickets bought with a pay card inspected?
Ticket inspectors are equipped with special inspection devices. During the inspection the device will show the tickets bought with and linked to the specific pay card once the card is placed against the device.
Important: the inspector’s device will not download any card data, nor will the inspector have access to the data the inspected card contains. The pay card serves solely as a transaction identifier and the card data are automatically encrypted. The only information the inspector obtains when reading the card is whether the passenger is in possession of a valid ticket linked to the pay card used to make the purchase.
How will the FALA system know that the passenger has used a pay card to pay for the journey?
The information on the payments made is recorded in the system which links the payment to the so-called card token, i.e. a special code which secures the transaction. The security of the transaction is ensured by the payment operator in compliance with international standards.
All pay transactions made by the users in the FALA system will be processed via the payment operator certified by the Financial Supervision Authority. The PCI DSS certification is the standard employed by payment institutions to secure all financial transactions and operations.
How to get help in the FALA system?
Dear Visitor, if you are travelling and have no account in our system, i.e. you pay using your pay card, you can send any complaint or technical comment you might have in writing, specifying the details, to the following e-mail address: info@systemfala.pl
In the event you need to talk to an assistant, the Helpline and technical service staff will be happy to assist you at the following telephone number: +48 585 733 585 (Polish, English languages).