City Transport: Bus Ticket in Telegram

The bus is moving, the conductor is working their way down the aisle, and your wallet holds no cash. City Transport is built for that moment: you pay for the ride in Telegram and show the ticket on your screen. 🚌

It is a mini app for paying fares through the Fast Payments System (SBP), the Russian bank-to-bank transfer network. You do not type card details into a chat. The payment goes through your own banking app.

A sticker on the handrail does the heavy lifting

Vehicles connected to the service carry a sticker with a QR code and a short numeric code. That sticker tells the app which vehicle and route you are riding.

You have two ways to begin:

• Scan the QR code. Open the mini app, point your camera at the sticker, and the vehicle is recognized.
• Type the code. If the camera struggles or the bus is packed, enter the digits printed on the sticker.

Five steps from sticker to ticket

The flow is short. Here it is in order, so you can follow it with one hand on the rail.

1. Open the bot and launch the mini app.
2. Scan the sticker or enter its code by hand.
3. Check the fare and confirm the purchase.
4. Pay through SBP in your bank's app.
5. Return to Telegram and show the ticket to the conductor.

The ticket lives on your phone screen. There is no paper, but your battery needs to last until you step off, because a conductor may come by at any time. 🔋

What SBP means for a passenger

SBP lets you pay from a bank account without entering a card number. Confirmation usually takes a few seconds, and the money leaves your account right away.

In practice you need a smartphone and a banking app that supports SBP. Any bank connected to the system will do.

Where it works and where it does not

The mini app only helps on vehicles whose operator has put up the stickers. In a city you do not know, look for one inside the vehicle first. If you cannot find it, pay the usual way.

The carrier sets the fare, not Telegram and not your bank. The amount is shown before you confirm, so compare it with your route before paying. ✅

Small habits that save a bad morning

• Check your connection early. Signal is usually better at a stop than in a tunnel or on the outskirts.
• Keep the banking app ready. Fingerprint or passcode login speeds up the payment.
• Keep the ticket open until you leave. Checks can happen near the end of a ride.
• Save the bank notification. It helps if a dispute comes up.

Paying from a phone without getting burned

Pay only inside the mini app opened from the official bot, and ignore payment links sent by strangers. Fraudsters sometimes stick fake QR codes over real ones. 🔍

If a sticker looks pasted over or crooked, check that the payee shown in your banking app matches the carrier. When in doubt, pay the conductor directly.

Around twenty thousand people use the bot each month. It suits anyone who rides public transport often and is tired of hunting for coins.