In the midst of transportation increases, and given the difficulties in registering and loading the SUBE card, the demand from the financial sector to "open" the system and
request that transportation credentials can be funded with different means of payment is growing.
Complaints are increasing among users about
difficulties registering
SUBE cards before March 31, the deadline to be able to maintain the value of the current rate and not see the new increases applied starting in April.
In recent days, a decision by Nación Servicios, the controller of the SUBE, to maintain the negative balance of the card at
-$480
, took off, despite the recent increases in buses and trains, in the metropolitan area.
On Friday, the Government clarified that, after resolving technical problems to
raise the maximum amount of the load to $9,900
, they are working to expand the negative balance.
All of this revives a demand from the financial sector: "open the SUBE", which is currently based on a closed system controlled by Nación Servicios.
Months ago, banks asked the previous Government
to expand the access points to this system,
to allow paying for transportation from any digital wallet or banking app.
"As a medium-term objective, the aim should be for bus, subway or train travel
to be paid with all
available
contactless
payment methods and other modalities that may appear. In other words, the option of
paying the public transportation with credit, debit or prepaid cards;
NFC (
near-field communication
) technology; options that are available today for payments in stores," highlighted last June a technical note from ADEBA, the chamber that brings together the banks of national capitals.
Now the claim has gained another weight and it is
Pierpaolo Barbieri
, the founder of the fintech Ualá, who is also part of ADEBA due to the banking license that his company has for Uilo, who leads the way on social networks and takes advantage of his high profile in his account of X to put the issue on the table.
Open SUBE!
Less state monopoly with SA tongue hidden in a public bank.
More competition.
More transparency.
Less queues.
Just like in Rio. New York.
Rome.
London.
Hong Kong.
Mexico.
Milan.
And so many other cities.
pic.twitter.com/UjgcNDiYRT
— Pierpaolo Barbieri (@pbarbieri) February 14, 2024
"Open SUBE! Less state monopoly with SA money hidden in a public bank.
More competition. More transparency. Fewer lines.
Just like in Rio. New York. Rome. London. Hong Kong. Mexico. Milan. And so many other cities," Barbieri wrote.
In the coming weeks, the trans-Andean capital of Santiago de Chile would join this list.
From the financial sector they say that
talks with the Government are advanced to allow the opening of this system
and that, from a technical point of view, "it is not difficult."
However, for now, there seem to be impediments rather from the political order to carrying out this enterprise.
The management of the SUBE depended, in addition to the administrative management of Nación Servicios, on the former Ministry of Transportation.
Today,
after the demotion of that Ministry to a secretariat, there is no director designated to carry out this issue
.
"There is no organizational chart," sources from that portfolio told this newspaper.
Meanwhile, the current Secretary of Transportation, Franco Mogetta, was in the crosshairs of the Casa Rosada after the fight between Javier Milei and the governors over the failure of the Omnibus Law.
According to the latest data from the Central Bank, compiled in its Retail Payments Report,
the balances in the SUBE during last December totaled $19.9 billion.