Buying a tram ticket in Zagreb has long been one of the more confusing moments of a visit to the Croatian capital — figuring out where to buy one, which kiosk, what zone. From 2027, that changes. Zagreb Electric Tram (ZET), the city's public transport operator, is rolling out a contactless payment system across its entire fleet, letting passengers simply tap a bank card, phone or smartwatch on a validator to pay their fare.
The new validators will accept Visa and Mastercard cards plus digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, according to reporting by Poslovni and Financije.hr. A public procurement process for the new machines and central control units is already underway, and full installation across more than 700 trams and buses is expected by summer 2027. Because it involves so many vehicles and a rework of the sales platform behind them, the rollout will be gradual.
How it works: you tap your card or device, the validator confirms the purchase with a message on screen and an audio signal. At first, each transaction buys just a single ticket — group or multi-ticket purchases may come later in the project. Ticket checks get easier too. Instead of hunting for a paper ticket or screenshot, you tap the same card or phone you used to pay on the inspector's handheld device, which verifies your travel right is linked to it. No paper, no app, no account to set up.
For visitors, this is the part that matters most. The current system — buying tickets at kiosks or via a local app, often with language hurdles — is exactly the kind of friction that trips up travellers boarding a tram from Ban Jelačić Square to the upper town or the railway station. Contactless payment means a tourist with a foreign card can ride within seconds of arriving, the same way they would on the metro in London or the buses in Berlin.
One thing to note in the meantime: ZET has had a bumpy stretch, with a workers' strike starting on 28 September 2026 that halted tram and bus services until the County Court ruled it unlawful in the first instance and operations were restored. So while you wait for the tap-to-pay upgrade, it's worth keeping an eye on service news if you're visiting Zagreb over the coming months.
Until the new system is live in 2027, travellers still need to buy tickets the old way — at newspaper kiosks, ZET points of sale or through the official app — and validate them on board, with inspectors doing spot checks. Fines for riding without a valid ticket are not trivial, so it pays to sort the fare out before you hop on.
The broader takeaway: Zagreb is catching up with the growing list of European cities where a bank card is your ticket. If you're planning a city break in the Croatian capital from summer 2027 onwards, the tram — already a cheap, extensive way to cover the compact centre — should become a lot more straightforward.
