Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority said on July 5 that its upgrade of the Nol fare system from card-based to account-based ticketing is 72% complete. The project is intended to expand how riders access and pay for public transport, although the authority does not expect all phases to be finished until the end of the first quarter of 2027.
The distinction matters for payment operators. Under the planned account-based model, a customer account becomes the hub for cards, balances and transaction records instead of leaving the physical Nol card as the principal store of fare information. RTA said customers will be able to link multiple cards, manage family members’ cards, assign top-up amounts, activate automatic top-ups through bank-account links, review daily transactions, block cards and recover balances.
A phased opening of the fare-payment layer
RTA divided the work into three phases. The first is to introduce QR-code ticketing through digital channels. The second is to issue a new generation of Nol cards designed for compatibility with bank-card technologies and automatic linkage to customer accounts. The final phase is expected to add direct acceptance of bank cards and digital wallets for public-transport fares.
This sequence separates the back-office account migration from the later opening of the acceptance layer. For transit-payment providers and acquiring banks, it points to a system in which a QR ticket, a Nol card, a bank card or a wallet credential can become different ways to access the same transport network. It also creates room for more flexible fares across transport modes, a capability RTA included among the planned features.
The announcement is a progress milestone, not a full commercial launch. RTA did not identify the payment networks, wallet providers or acquiring partners that would support open-loop acceptance, and it did not publish fee arrangements or a detailed phase-by-phase launch calendar. Those omissions leave important questions about routing, settlement, refunds and customer support for later implementation disclosures.
Nol is also being positioned beyond transit
RTA said the upgraded infrastructure will cover ticketing devices and smart kiosks at public-transport stations. It also plans to extend the next generation of Nol cards beyond mobility, allowing them to be used for purchases through digital channels and at retail outlets across the United Arab Emirates in a manner similar to bank cards.
That planned expansion would push Nol further into the boundary between a transit credential and a general-purpose payment product. From an industry perspective, the central issue will be how RTA connects a public-transport account, bank-linked funding and retail acceptance while preserving clear rules for authorization, balance recovery and disputes. The July 5 update establishes the project’s progress and intended payment methods, but not the final commercial or technical model.
The current Nol system launched with Dubai Metro in September 2009. RTA’s move toward account-based ticketing follows a broader transit-payments pattern: operators are reducing dependence on proprietary stored-value cards while adding digital credentials and open-loop payment methods. In Dubai’s case, the proposed retail use of the new Nol cards gives the program a wider payments ambition than fare collection alone.