Bank card payments in PMDP vehicles

Everything you need to know about paying by bank card on PMDP vehicles

You can easily pay your fare in public transport vehicles using a contactless bank card. However, for technical reasons, the payment does not work in exactly the same way as a normal purchase in a shop; payments in PMDP vehicles work on the principle of so-called offline payments.

Offline payments are commonly used in public transport around the world (London, Vienna, Warsaw, Prague, etc.) because they ensure fast boarding of passengers and system resilience against connection failures. Offline is therefore the de facto standard today. Online payments in public transport would cause queues and reliability issues.

Why isn't the amount deducted immediately?

When you tap your card on the terminal, the device saves your purchase and you immediately receive a ticket. However, the money is not deducted at that moment – the actual settlement takes place later, once the payment is transferred to the banking system. This process can take several hours, sometimes even several days.

The reason for this is the speed of processing in vehicles and the fact that a stable internet connection is not available everywhere (tunnels, remote locations, network outages, etc.). The terminal therefore operates in offline mode.

Why was only a pre-authorization (1 CZK) deducted after my purchase?

The $100.00 is not an actual payment, but only a pre-authorization. It is used by the system to verify that the card is valid, active, and has contactless transactions enabled. The bank will then place a so-called block on the account 1 CZK, which is usually released after a few days and all purchased tickets are correctly billed.

When is it necessary to have money in your account?

It is not enough to have money in your account only when you buy a ticket. The decisive factor is the balance of your account at the time of settlement. If there are insufficient funds in your account at that moment, or if you have exceeded the set limit, the payment will fail and the bank will reject it.

What happens if the payment/settlement fails?

If the bank rejects the settlement (e.g., due to insufficient funds in the account or a blocked card, exceeding the limit, etc.), the card is automatically blacklisted. This means that the terminal will reject such a card the next time you try to pay for a ticket.

How do I know that the payment has failed and my card is blocked?

Through a notification from the bank, if the client has this feature activated and set up – in such a case, the bank will send a notification (SMS, push notification, or email) that the payment has been declined. At that point, you know that you will have a problem with that card the next time you check in on the vehicle and that you need to resolve the situation.

How does a card get off the blacklist?

The blacklist is not permanent – it is a protective list of cards that have previously failed to clear, or rather transactions made with them.

Terminals and the banking system continuously check whether the problem still exists – i.e., whether there is enough money in the account and the payment can be made. These automatic repeated attempts may continue for several days in a row. Once the debt has been deducted, the card is automatically unblocked.

Another attempt to purchase a ticket: in some cases, the card can be removed from the blacklist by paying the fare on the next purchase, provided there are sufficient funds in the account. The terminal checks the balance upon contact, and if the previous unpaid amount is settled, the card is fully usable again on public transport within a few minutes to tens of minutes.

Why was my payment deducted even though the terminal reported that my card was blocked?

If the terminal in the vehicle displays a message about a blocked card and no ticket is issued, the transaction is never charged. However, this attempt to purchase a ticket may trigger automatic banking processes in the background that may settle the "owed" amount that caused the card to be blacklisted. However, it may appear that the amount for the unissued ticket has been charged. In the past, however, you would have been issued a ticket in this case, which would have been waiting to be charged until it was presented to the terminal.

What should I do if I find out that my card is blocked while I am on the bus?

According to the PMDP Contractual Conditions of Carriage, it is necessary to resolve the situation – i.e., try to check in at another check-in device. If this is also unsuccessful, the passenger is obliged to check in by other means – e.g., by sending an SMS ticket (in this case, the ticket inspector will accept it even if you are still waiting for it to be delivered), marking a paper ticket, purchasing a ticket via a mobile app, or, in extreme cases, leaving the vehicle at the nearest station. The only bad solution is to do nothing about the situation, sit down, and hope that you can somehow explain it to the ticket inspector later.

Why does payment in public transport not go through, but in a store it does?

Payment by bank card on public transport is offline, meaning that the terminal does not verify the payment immediately online with the bank, but only saves it for later settlement. The terminal in the store works online and immediately verifies the payment with the bank, so if there is enough money in the account, the payment goes through. On public transport, the payment is verified later, so it may be declined even if the account balance is sufficient at the time of purchase. The card may therefore be blacklisted for offline payments, but fully functional for online payments.

Visa and Mastercard – differences in billing

With Mastercard cards, individual journeys made during the day can be combined into a single total amount, which is then deducted from the account at once. A single transaction can therefore contain several tickets. With Visa cards, each journey is usually charged separately as a so-called sub-limit transaction, so you will see multiple individual payments for tickets on your account.

Is there any difference between paying with a plastic card and a card in your mobile phone?

You can use your bank card in two ways:

• plastic card – a classic physical card from the bank,
• virtual card in your mobile phone or watch – for example, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

When paying with a plastic card, the terminal works with its actual number (PAN), which is printed on the card. When paying with a mobile phone or watch, a different number is used for security reasons – a so-called token. This is a unique number generated by the bank only for payments from a specific device.

What does this mean in practice?

If you complain about being unable to make a payment or need to verify a transaction, you must provide the correct number of the card you actually used to pay – either the plastic card number or the virtual card number. You can find the virtual bank card number, for example, in your online banking in the Cards in Mobile section, or in the Wallet mobile app.

If a plastic card is blacklisted (e.g., due to an unpaid bill), the card in your mobile phone may still be usable, and vice versa.

Tips for ensuring smooth card payments on public transport:

• Have enough money in your account – not only when purchasing a ticket, but especially at the time of settlement.
• Keep an eye on your limit – your card may have a maximum amount set for a certain period.
• Check previous unpaid payments – if the card has been previously declined and is on the blacklist, these transactions need to be settled.
• Monitor your account balance and set up notifications from your bank – this will ensure that you know if a payment fails.

 If your card is blocked, or if you do not agree with the amount deducted from your account and would like to receive a list of transactions, please contact us by submitting a complaint at www.pmdp.cz in the Contact tab.

 Don't want to deal with this issue at all? Get the Virtual Pilsen Card mobile app, where all payments are made online and you will have your valid ticket on your phone before you even get on the bus.