Virtual Troika Comes to Smartphones
Commuters can now pay for travel across Moscow’s public transportation system directly through the Moy ID app, eliminating the need for a physical card and using only a QR code.
A virtual Troika card is now available in the Moy ID app. It can be used to pay fares across all major forms of city transport, including the Metro, the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), the Moscow Central Diameters (MCD), surface transit, and regular electric river transport. To use the service, residents simply log in through their mos.ru account, issue a virtual Troika card, add funds to the wallet, or load a travel pass. Payment is completed via QR code, with no additional devices required.
The Moy ID app, downloaded more than one million times since 2023, is evolving beyond a repository for digital documents into a multifunctional urban services platform. Its integration with transportation infrastructure, QR-based payments, and mobile identity services illustrates how Moscow’s digital ecosystem is becoming more unified and more convenient for residents.
Where Is Transport Digitalization Heading?
The long-term vision is to transform Moy ID into a universal urban digital wallet and identity platform. Today, the app stores passport details, SNILS social insurance information, taxpayer identification data, Karta Moskvicha (Muscovite card), and other documents. The addition of a virtual Troika card further strengthens its role as an everyday tool. Over time, it could become a central element of Moscow’s “city in a smartphone” model through expanded payment options, deeper integration with municipal services, and the consolidation of transportation, social, and document-related functions within a single platform.
The Troika-based ticketing system is already expanding into other regions through SberTroika. The unified platform now serves 34 Russian regions. Potentially, this model – combining a unified ticketing system, mobile card, QR payments, automatic top-ups, and integration with city services – could offer other cities a ready-made framework for transport digitalization. More broadly, this approach to building integrated urban platforms may attract interest from friendly countries seeking proven smart city solutions.
From First Steps to an Ecosystem
The development of Moscow’s digital transport services has progressed in stages. In July 2023, the Moy ID app was launched to provide residents with quick access to personal documents. By December of the same year, city authorities announced plans to introduce a virtual Troika card in QR-code format through the Metro Moskvy (Moscow Metro app).
In 2024, every Metro and MCC fare gate gained the ability to activate online top-ups for both Troika cards and Karta Moskvicha cards, reducing the need for additional transactions at ticket terminals. By 2025, Moscow’s ticketing system had become available to more than 45 million residents across Russia, while SberTroika was processing approximately two million trips per day. By 2025-2026, downloads of the Moy ID app had exceeded one million, with users most frequently accessing passport, SNILS, and taxpayer identification records.
These milestones demonstrate how Moscow is steadily moving everyday urban interactions into a mobile-first environment.
The Future of the City in a Smartphone
The arrival of a virtual Troika card within Moy ID reinforces the broader trend toward comprehensive digital ecosystems for major cities. The transportation card is no longer a standalone piece of plastic. Instead, it is becoming a function embedded within a resident’s digital profile.
In the near term, further expansion of Moy ID can be expected through the addition of new documents, benefit-related services, status verification tools, and municipal payment functions. For regional governments, the most transferable element may not be the Moscow app itself, but rather the combination of a transport ticketing platform, virtual card, and mobile identity services that can be adapted to local digital ecosystems.
This approach makes city services more convenient for residents while providing a strong example of how Russia’s IT sector can integrate urban data, transportation infrastructure, and mobile payment technologies into a single platform.
