Students at the state universities in Skopje will soon no longer have to carry paper certificates or queue at the counters of JSP, the city's public transport company, to use free public transport. JSP Skopje, with support from the City of Skopje and in cooperation with Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, is introducing a digital student travel pass, which will also be valid for students of Mother Teresa University.

The process is fully digital. Student status will be verified automatically through data exchange between JSP and the universities. Each student will receive instructions by email, log into the SkopjeBus app with the same address they used when enrolling at university, and activate the pass. On the bus, a QR code on the phone is scanned at the validator.

The idea is so obvious it's strange that it's only arriving now. The university knows who's a student; JSP knows who's entitled to free travel. All those years of students queuing at ticket offices at the start of the academic year were the price of two institutions not sharing their data.

It's also worth noticing who announced the news. Alongside JSP, it was also announced by Ljupčo Risteski, president of the City Committee of the UMS, VMRO-DPMNE's youth wing, who said: "It's time for institutions to do their part of the work and share with each other the data they already have." Exactly. Except that the service belongs to a public company, not to a party's list of achievements.

The exact date the pass will start working hasn't been announced yet, and JSP says students will receive more information in good time. The academic year starts at the beginning of October. Will students start the semester with a QR code, or back in the queue at a counter?