TICKETING & FARE COLLECTION
Putting the mobile in mobility
Near Field Communications, smart phones and apps are revolutionising the way we plan, prepare and pay for journeys. Now, everything can be done with the touch of a button, says David Dekozan, vice president of strategic initiatives at Cubic Transportation Systems.
T
he smartphone continues to revolutionise how people plan their day, socialise, shop and pay for goods and services. It is also increasingly enhancing the way we commute on trains, buses, trams and ferries. More than 90% of US consumers now own a mobile phone, of which almost 60% are smartphones – a fi gure which is set to exceed 80% by the end of 2015. [In the UK, 51% of adults own a smartphone, according to 2013 statistics from Ofcom].
That revolutionary change in consumer behaviour has also transformed the way people interact with the outside world. For the average journey, they can now plan their schedules, access information, make purchase decisions, manage their accounts, seek customer support, and make payments, all from their phone.
MasterCard recently conducted a survey of more than 1,600 US citizens about how paying for transit affected their daily commutes. Overall the survey revealed that people fi nd it irritating to pay for transit fares with cash.
80 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 14
In total, 65% of commuters who use cash to pay their transit fares worry from time to time that they do not have enough money to pay for their fare, 44% worry about needing the correct change, and 36% have been unable to travel because they did not have enough money for the fare.
Morning commutes are stressful enough as it is, and worrying about being able to pay for it is an unnecessary stress. Of all those who rode multiple forms of transport, 75% wanted one payment card for all modes of transport across their area.
Contactless payments with either mobile phones using Near Field Communications (NFC) or contactless debit or credit cards make it easy to pay quickly and without stress. Dubbed open payment, these systems offer the fl exibility highlighted by survey respondents, allowing users to pay for both transport and retail with the same card, with same-day access even across multiple systems, in multiple
cities at home and abroad. The age of the app
The combination of NFC technology and the explosion in the number of transit apps designed for smartphones is the enabling factor in this ‘tap and pay’ dynamic. It is now a standard functionality in the majority of new smartphones sold.
In fact, there are dozens of apps that feature real-time predictive arrival data for bus services, such as Cubic’s NextBus offering. More recently, barcode mobile ticketing applications have become popular with commuter rail passengers and long distance bus travellers. The ability to purchase tickets and present them to staff on board, in much the same way as a printed ticket, is a time- and money-saving way to complete a transaction.
As part of its NextCity strategy, Cubic has embarked on an ambitious programme to build
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