Four years ago, the then Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) decided that the card for travel by Prague public transport would be called Lítačka. It was not without criticism. The current city administrator Zdeněk Hřib (Pirati) has now announced that he plans to rename the Lítačka application.
“We are planning a survey to rename the mobile application PID Lítačka. What do you think we should call it?” Hřib asked at the end of Friday’s Facebook post, in which he presented a limited edition public transport card designed by fifteen-year-old Matěj Hošek, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and is very fond of drawing city transport route plans.
Hřib said on Saturday evening that the name will remain for the card. “I primarily want to find out what the Prague citizens want to do with the name, but we will not rename the plastic card in the foreseeable future,” said Zdeněk Hřib. The change is related to the digital version, which allows you to upload a ticket to your mobile phone, among other things.
“We want the service to be as user-friendly as possible. Therefore, we will also look for a suitable name for the application, which would be understandable for visitors from abroad. I think that Prague citizens will come up with a number of inspirational ideas,” said the Mayor.
The name Lítačka was decided in the spring of 2016. “The two-word names were too long, and the name “tramcar” did not work because the card can be used not only on trams.” Mayor Krnáčová defended the decision and argued that the name Lítačka caused 52.5% of positive responses on social networks.
In discussions, however, people spared no criticism. Some pointed out that they knew the word “lítačka” as a synonym for jogging, and jokingly suggested calling the card Krndačka. The predominance of Prague residents defended decades-proven “tramcar.”
With Lítačka, Prague replaced the problematic Opencard, a project worth more than a billion crowns, the consequences of which are still being resolved by the courts.
The card, which allows for travel on public transport in Prague and Central Bohemia, also serves as a pass Prague libraries. Currently, over 859 thousand cards are registered in the Lítačka system, and a long-term pass is recorded on more than 630 thousand.
As of August 2018, passengers can transfer tickets to contactless bank cards or Czech Railways Cards. Since December 2019, it is sufficient to have a long time ticket recorded only on a mobile phone on the PID Lítačka application.
Are you in favor of renaming the Lítačka application?
