FirstGroup’s Mass Investment to Equip Bus Network
- The largest UK bus and rail operator, FirstGroup, is about to invest 27 million pounds in the deployment of contactless (credit and debit) card readers in its fleet of 5,000 buses.
- This initiative should start this autumn to be completed by end 2012.
- The investment should allow FirstGroup to become the first transportation network in this country to propose both MasterCard and Visa international schemes to its 2.5 million daily passengers.
- The London 2012 Olympics seem to account for the increasing number of contactless payment initiatives in the UK. Here, the deployment should match with this very period.
- According to a study conducted by Visa, British customers have generally adapted their consumption habits to contactless payment: 85% of the users say they would even recommend this technology to their relatives.
- Nevertheless, considering this maturity, the users are asking for a more developed acceptance network: 28% say that too few merchants accept contactless payments and 57% claim they have never been proposed this option. This situation seems to be hindering the development of this technology.