Transportation and Payment Solutions Debated in the UK
- London assembly's transport committee expresses doubts regarding the viability and economic interest of solutions gathering face-to-face payment and common transportation system. It deems that this contactless ticketing model is not robust enough to last and allow satisfying RoI.
- According to the report entitled The Future of Ticketing, carried out with the help of consumer firm Which?, these uncertainties must be added to passengers’ expressed insecurity as they feel concerned about the protection of their data. The committee also fears that a double standard might be set up (contactless card-related advantages) impacting those who do not have a bank card (one in five) or simply prefer using the Oyster card.
- The committee also explains that many do not intend to use their bank card for transportation. Flexibility, equity, security, and even interoperability, are so many notions to be taken into account by Transport for London (TfL), just as well as the losses likely to affect small retailers currently proposing Oyster card’s top-up. TfL is to hand in its conclusions by September2012.
- Meanwhile, in the end of November, the manufacturer ViVOtech has announced the integration of its NFC-compatible, EMV-compliant payment software in Cubic network’s Tri-Reader 3 readers. Primarily designed for Oyster, these solutions are now open to universal payment acceptance.
- Initiatives to federate payment and transportation apps are currently being deployed in several especially relevant markets (open and mature). London passengers can already opt for Barclaycard’s OnePulse card (combining payments and Oyster card features).
- In Turkey (another promising market), MasterCard and Garanti Bank (with the help of Eskisehir town and manufacturer Ingenico) propose the Esparacard (see previous box).
- Also, in the beginning of November 2011, Caisse d’Epargne and Veolia Transdev have launched Citevia: a contactless bank card pilot with embedded transportation app designed for urban users in Reims (see October 2011 Insight).
- These devices, however, are still subjected to issuing and acquiring investments efforts. Card blocking-related issues in case of loss or theft and card re-issuing are major concerns, too.