The city of Cannes adopts Open Payment

The public transport network of the city of Cannes, Palm Bus, has just signed a partnership with Littlepay, PSP at the origin of an infrastructure adapted to public transport, Kuba, a ticketing specialist and La Banque Postale. Their association will lead to the deployment of an Open Payement system throughout the city's bus network. Its "tap-to-pay" model renews an experiment that is currently being democratised.

FACTS

• Littlepay and Kuba provide a payment system using Littlepay's payment platform and Kuba's card readers. It is now integrated into the Palm Bus network in Cannes.

• Since April 11th, occasional passengers of the network can pay their "01 VOYAGE" ticket by simply presenting their bank card (or their smartphone) at the validator, on board more than 200 buses. Payment is contactless.

• An amount of €1.50 is immediately deducted each time a card or smartphone (with the Google, Samsung or Apple pay payment application activated) is passed through the machine. This allows the passenger to pay the fare for a single journey of less than 59 minutes.

• After 59 minutes (in the case of a connection or a long journey, for example), the passenger will have to pass his or her means of payment in front of the validator again. They will not be debited again but can extend the validity of their ticket.  

• To pay for the tickets of several people, the holder of the accepted means of payment simply has to pass his ticket twice in front of the validator. A screen will then appear allowing the holder to enter the number of accompanying passengers and to pay the necessary amount.  

• The means of payment serves as proof of the ticket and can thus be presented to the ticket inspector if necessary.

CHALLENGES

• Modernising a ticketing system: Cannes is relying on this multi-partnership to modernise its system. La Banque Postale has supported this project with the Cannes Pays de Lérins agglomeration. The Agglomération Cannes Lérins includes the municipalities of Cannes, Le Cannet, Mougins, Mandelieu-La Napoule and Théoule-sur-Mer.

• Facilitating access to the network: Open Payment is particularly relevant for occasional travellers as it makes the transport networks accessible without a subscription. This model for validating and paying for tickets is more practical, simple and fast. This is all the more appropriate for a tourist city, which is also the host of the Cannes Film Festival. On average, it has one million visitors per year, 200,000 of whom are attracted by the festival.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The marketing formula used, "tap-to-pay", has nothing to do with the services recently presented by Apple or Google. It only aims to define the model of fast and convenient contactless payment enabled by Open Payment.

• Open Payment, which consists of paying directly for public transport with a bank card (or via a dematerialised card embedded in a smartphone), has developed in France, supported by the initiatives of several cities (Grenoble, Dijon, Nevers, Brest and Tarbes for example).

• Players such as Actoll have entered this market with innovative payment solutions. Actoll has just been acquired by Ubitransport, a French Tech company considered a pioneer in real-time connected ticketing.