It’s Official: “Lítačka” to Replace Opencard Next Week

Late last month, Prague mayor Adriana Krnáčová announced that the city would be replacing the infamous public transport pass Opencard with a new system tentatively named “Lítačka.”

On Tuesday, the mayor announced that the name has stuck after an official poll found that 52.7% of respondents were in favor Lítačka versus other proposed names that included “tramvajenka.”

Lítačka roughly translates to “revolving door.”

Development of the new card was estimated at just shy of 2 million crowns, with a total budget of 10 million – quite a difference from the previous Opencard project, which was estimated at 1.7 billion CZK.

At a press conference today, journalists were handed out functioning cards which bear slightly different designs than the original concepts seen last month: 

“We would like to make a small announcement. So, it will be called Lítačka. It will cost a total of 10 million CZK. Just 10 million CZK. Not a billion. The monthly cost of running it will be zero. Not two million like with the other famous card. We said you will get (the new card) in the first half of the year. Wait, no. It will be from March 1. Thank you to all who helped us launch this unbelievably cheap project in record time.”

While the new Lítačka will be implemented next week, current holders of valid Opencard transport passes shouldn’t have to worry about replacing them just yet.

“From the 1st of March, Praguers will be able to request Lítačka directly at the card center in the Škoda Palace,” said Václav Strnad of Operátor ICT, the company that operates the card.

“However, if they have a valid Opencard, nothing changes for them. Once their Opencard expires, they will request a new card. This is what they would have to do anyway and they will receive the new Lítačka instead.”

Currently, the city of Prague is embroiled in a long-running dispute with eMoneyServices, the private firm behind Opencard, which involved operating fees of around 2 million CZK per month. eMoneyServices is currently suing Prague for hundreds of millions of crowns in a case that isn’t likely to go away any time soon.