SMARTTICKETING INSIGHTS

Fresh thinking on the smartticketing & mobility Landscape.

How to leverage technology to keepyour passengers safe and moving.

www.transport-ticketing.com

Smart Ticketing InsightsAs transport networks start to recover and adapt to the 'new normal', we wanted to sharesome success stories, guidance and insights to support the industry's recovery. Transportoperators and authorities have been challenged to rethink the way passengers use theirservices as they face pressure to reduce touch points and improve passenger flow. We haveworked with our network of smart ticketing and mobility leaders to provide insights on arange of topics from cross-border ticketing and open standards to Bluetooth, biometricsand contactless ticketing.

Contents Interoperability in cross-border public transportticketing - an example from the Aachen border region

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Are you prepared for the fourth era of public transport?Page 5

Deploying Technology for Resilient Mobility During and AfterCOVID-19

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Contact-free public transport

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“…Don’t Look Back In Anger…”The scene… A pub in Birmingham …. The year… 2041

Page 8 Going contactless has its benefits, not just the ones you can't see

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Enabling interoperable cross-border ticketing in publictransport is a challenge for most regions within Europe.However, in the border region of Aachen first steps intothe direction of seamless travelling have been made. Inthe border region between Germany, Belgium and theNetherlands not only three different countries with threedifferent languages meet, but in public transport alsothree ticketing systems have to be brought together. Allof them are based on different technical standards. Whilethe German eTicket Deutschland is based on the VDV-KAstandard, the Dutch OV-Chipkaart is based on the Mifarestandard and last but not least the Belgian MobibCardfollows the Calypso standard.

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The transport authority Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV)works continuously on removing barriers for cross-borderpublic transport. Tariff structures, bus and train servicesas well as passenger information systems have improvedsignificantly during the last years. However, in times ofdigitisation the field of ticketing has led to newchallenges. Due to the isolated and independentdevelopment of national ticketing standards, a smartsolution is required in order to establish interoperabilityin cross-border public transport ticketing. Key to successis to not change the existing national standards, but toadd an extra interoperability layer, which is alsoapplicable to other border regions in Europe.

AVV was part of the European Horizon2020 Research &Development project “European Travellers Cub” (ETC),which dealt with interoperable ticketing. Within the ETCproject partners from the Netherlands, Luxemburg andGermany developed an interoperable ID-ticketingsystem, which enables a router-based communicationbetween different national system set-ups on each sideof the border. The ETC interoperability network enabledthe passenger to use one single chipcard for traveling inthe Netherlands and Germany without a separate

Interoperability in cross-borderpublic transport ticketing - anexample from the Aachenborder region

Dominik Elsmann

Head of Cross-borderTransport

Aachener Verkehrsverbund

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Dr. Dominik Elsmann is Head ofCross-border Public Transport atAachener Verkehrsverbund. Hejoined AVV in 2015, where he isresponsible for internationalcooperation in the field of publictransport. In this context he hasbeen a project manager for severalinternational public transportprojects that focus on innovationand digitalisation

registration in the other country. The technical approachis based on an ID that is accepted in both countries andis added to the currently used chip cards. The tariff iscalculated in the respective national system, but thepayment is only made to the passenger’s home PTO,which provides the account. Hereby the system followsthe principle of roaming when traveling in the neighbourcountry or across the border.

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The first pilot in context of the ETC project proved thetechnical system set-up of the interoperability network tobe successful. In 2020 a follow-up project started,focussing on the use of smartphones as the central usermedium. The smartphone-based system has theadvantage that it is also open to users without a chipcard and the system is not dependent on infrastructuresuch as validators. The new project called easyConnectfocusses on the implementation of the planned ID-basedcheck-in/be-out system in North-Rhine Westphalia and isconducted in close collaboration with partners in theNetherlands. On the Dutch side, the system is part of thenational MaaS programme that focusses on multimodaltraveling across borders. The system will bring additionalvalue to the passengers and will be connected to themost recent developments in both countries and will firstbe tested on the cross-border train corridor betweenAachen and Maastricht Train in 2021 and in a second stepon the corridor between Cologne and Maastricht in 2022.

The vision is to enable the passenger to perform a check-in in Cologne and a check-out in Maastricht and take allcomplexity away from him. The backend willautomatically transfer the transactions to the respectivenational ticketing systems and finally the passenger willreceive an invoice for his journey. In this context the ID-based approach adds flexibility to the ticketing system.The user is identified by a unique ID that can berecognized by a variety of services, which do not have tobe limited to public transport.

Involving the ticketing standard bodies into the processwill help to develop and test a generic solution that canbe transferred to other border regions. Although thesystem will be tested in one border region, it is envisagedto provide a standardised solution. The interoperabilitynetwork can be transferred to other border regions andother (mobility) services can easily be integrated.

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It’s impossible to ignore the crushing impact of theglobal Covid-19 pandemic on the use of public transport.What many of us may have not considered, however, ishow this has prompted the most significant traveltransformation in a generation.

The worldwide pandemic has acted as a catalyst indriving forwards a reaction from the transport industry.Things will not – and cannot – be the same again.

I believe we are now entering the fourth era of publictransport. This new era will use technology for: essentialcrowd management; reducing unnecessary interactions;minimising contact points; supporting micromobilitytransport options; improving passenger flow; andencouraging travel at times when the system is quieter,for example by pushing notifications to customers.

Travelling through the first three eras took little over 100years: first came the electrical age, enablingunderground networks and tramways; second cameautopilot systems and automated ticketing to cope withmass transit; and third came passenger informationservices that helped to make public transport attractiveand equipped to adapt supply to demand.

Ticketing has transformed phenomenally too, withcontactless cards simplifying payments and grantingeasier and faster access to networks. Now, almostovernight, we have been pushed towards the fourth ageand must seize the opportunity it presents.

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Are you prepared for the fourthera of public transport?

Philippe VappereauChairman

Calypso NetworksAssociation (CNA)

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Philippe is the chairman of CNA, anot-for-profit organisationconnecting the contactless ticketingcommunity. He has over 30 years ofknowledge and experience in thetransport and mobility sector, andleads the association in its efforts toadvance open systems that supportseamless, consumer ticketing needs.Prior to joining CNA in 2008, he heldsenior leadership positions at RATPand IXXI. He also holds a diploma inEngineering from École SupérieureD'électricité (Supélec).

The Journey so far

Adapting to the new normal

Public transport today faces a cruel paradox: operatingthe capacity to handle mass passenger flows whenneeded, while helping facilitate social distancing to keeppeople safe if the pandemic persists or returns.

Transport operators need to face up to this reality andadapt to it. It’s unlikely that a technological breakthroughwill arrive overnight to solve all our challenges, but wecan assess what technology we have available right now,improve it, optimise it, and revaluate whether there areany untapped possibilities within it.

I’m not suggesting that transport ticketing technologiesare the sole solution, but they can help reduce costs, findcustomers again, and significantly support socialdistancing measures. Here are what I believe are thethree crucial priorities for PTAs and PTOs today:

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1. Minimising crowding hotspots

The speed of contactless NFC ticketing allows a rapidflow of passengers at network entry points, helping avoidcrowds of passengers forming. Widespread internetavailability today also enables simple, distance sellingsolutions, as well as card reloading, helping customersavoid hotspots (ATMs and ticket counters).

2. Optimising mobile devices

Travel cards stored on NFC-capable mobile phones willbecome more widespread as social distancingbehaviours become habit. We should also anticipatemore people using such devices as a reader to reloadtheir own physical transport card with funds, againhelping reduce unnecessary contact points.

This requires cards with ‘microprocessor’ functionality –essentially a smart computer chip – which can offer morepurchase options to users in-person and remotely.

Most travel cards for frequent users contain this chip, butmore occasional travellers tend to buy contactless ticketsthat use simpler memory components incapable ofhandling remote reloading. These tickets typically requireexpensive booths and vending equipment to processpurchases, and contribute to crowds at stations.Operators should now look to phase them out, handingcontrol to the customer and helping to keep them safe.

3. Controlling spiralling costsOperators and authorities are facing their nightmarescenario: an unexpected collapse in passenger numbers 

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Now is most definitely not the time for operators andauthorities to lock themselves into an inflexible transportsetup. So much uncertainty remains in the sector in themonths and years ahead.

Networks that have already taken this route are alreadybeginning to feel trapped. From the promise of anoffered system, they are being moved to a revenuesharing obligation, and in a very weak position tonegotiate on equal terms. If there is one thing that thisyear has taught us, it’s that operators need to be moreagile and collaborate to cope with unexpectedchallenges.

Open standards give transport authorities and operatorsfar greater control of their ticketing network, andreassurance that they are on a sustainable frameworkthat can evolve and support new technical trends andbusiness requirements in a cost-effective way.

PTAs and PTOs must stay vigilant about the true costs oftheir systems, and above all make sure that they keepcontrol of their solutions rather than leaving it in thehands of big external players. Passengers will not forgiveoperators and authorities for a poor public service andare unlikely to turn their frustrations on financialinstitutions or other external players tying their handsbehind them.

Transport authorities and operators need sustainableticketing technologies, capable of meeting theirexpectations in the long term, but also of adaptingquickly to new and evolving situations, such as we arenow experiencing. We may not yet know the “newnormal”, but we know we need to be ready for changequicker than ever before.

which in the UK dropped to as little as 4% of its average –while having to manage significant costs to ensureessential services can continue.

One major issue for public transport providers is that theyare tied into expensive, proprietary ticketing software.Solutions that appear to be economically interestingbecause of their low purchase cost often have a very highlong-term cost, with a very poor economic return oninvestment for local authorities later down the line.

Flexibility through open standards

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The faster boarding time of contactless EMV (cEMV)payments is a real game changer, especially regardingthe operational efficiency of vehicles due to reduceddwell time at stops, with passengers no longer having tosearch for exact change whilst travelling. Queueing isreduced in and around stations too, with no need forpassengers to hold separate tickets to access publictransit networks. This reduction in cash handling andcash management can also reduce operational andsecurity costs for the business. It is also a huge plus fordrivers.

Furthermore, modern contactless fare collection servicesenable the operator to aggregate journeys and decidewhen to collect payment from customers. This enablesinnovations such as route transfers and fare capping, butit can also significantly reduce the cost of paymentprocessing as larger aggregated payment amounts areprocessed in single settlements rather than micro-transactions, attracting much lower merchant fees. Theseenhanced features, not provided in retail EMV, have beenspecifically enabled for transit by rules from the paymentnetworks, so a “transit ready” implementation of cEMV iskey for agencies.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly acceleratedthe shift from cash to contactless payment methodsacross many countries, leaving public transport operatorsaround the world considering whether deployingtechnology to accept contactless payments on theirnetworks is right for them. Whilst the safety element of handling cash is so poignantnow, the benefits of being able to accept contactlesspayments on public transport services span far further,across financial, operational and customer serviceelements of the business.

Going contactless has itsbenefits, not just the ones youcan't see

They let you focus on the service

With 20+ years of experience intechnology and innovation, workingwith leading technology companies,Adrian is responsible for all aspectsof Vix Technology products,including the development ofroadmaps, solutions managementand innovation.Adrian's experiencecomes from leading technologycompanies such as Logica (nowCGI), SAGE and most recentlyValidSoft. He has held a range ofglobal product and regionalleadership positions in Europe andSouth America across telecoms,enterprise software andcybersecurity markets.

Adrian Kelly

Chief Product OfficerVix Technology

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The data and insight contactless systems can provide areincredibly valuable. Whilst all payment sensitive dataremains encrypted, the journey data allows operators toget a much richer understanding of usage patterns thanfrom other tickets, and to do this in real time. Thisemphasises the importance of agencies retainingownership of their data, including for cEMV payments.

The costs associated with supporting a cEMV service aresignificantly lower than a closed loop card service. Inaddition, the frictionless payment experience provided bycEMV can drive increased usage of the transport serviceand, subsequently, fare revenues. As we have seen inretail, easy payment makes people more likely to buy theproduct or service.

The passengers benefit too

Closed-loop smartcard ticketing has already proven thesuccess of offering that same simple experiencepassengers are used to in retail, so for cEMV this simplymeans leveraging the same devices for smartcard andcEMV ticketing, with an experience passengers arealready familiar with. On top of contactless cards,adopting cEMV provides the passenger with greatmobile payments options via ApplePay, GooglePay andSamsungPay. Whether on mobile phones or wearabledevices, people want to pay for travel using theirpreferred cEMV token.

Passengers can also benefit from fare aggregation andcapping policies that operators can manage across theservice, providing commuters with greater incentives toutilise public transport and increase ridership levels.Furthermore, the digitised journey and payment dataallows for more meaningful customer intimacy andservice, providing the passenger with direct access to thedata collected, further enhancing the usability of theservice whilst reducing the costs associated withtraditional after-sales support.

Removing the payment from the equation

Today there is an ongoing trend of businesses changingthe payment experience by decoupling the act ofpayment from the service or product being consumed.The customer may not enjoy the process of paying for aservice, but if that process of paying is made even more

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Focusing on the service, not the payment

painful by having to find the right money, not receivingchange, being overcharged or waiting inline to actuallypay – it’s even more painful and will detract even furtherfrom the enjoyment of the purchased service.

In the sharing economy, AirBnB made paymentsdisappear from the accommodation experience bymoving it online - a key point in driving its explosivegrowth as acknowledged by the CEO, Brian Chesky.Removing the need to hand over cash in person madepeople want to use the service more. In transit, Uberprovides a close example. The payment process is movedto the background and almost becomes invisible to theconsumer, something that received positive response.

Contactless payments help to enable this improvedcustomer experience in the retail environment, but whenapplied within a transit model, the process of payment isfurther decoupled from the transit service as operatorsprovide more and more fare innovation.

By making payments disappear into the background, theexperience and the service that is delivered to thepassenger changes. It’s no longer about the moretraditional experiences of handing over cash for theservice you are buying, nor is pricing about the cost of aticket anymore – it’s about providing the best fare. Sellingtickets disappears and the attention shifts to providingmobility, with passengers safe in the knowledge thatthey will be charged the best fare possible later on.Overall the user experience moves from complex andinconsistent, to a consistent experience that ispredictable and reliable. The process of paying might behidden, but it can be exposed when needed at the touchof a button, key to building and maintaining customerconfidence and driving transit adoption, leavingoperators to keep focus on delivering the best servicepossible.

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“I was reading an article about passenger transport lastweek. Quite interesting, actually, about how far we’dcome in twenty years.”

“Really?  I can’t even remember that far back…”

“Come off it – it’s not THAT long ago.  I did have a bit of alaugh. Do you know, people used to drive their own carsto train stations, pay to park all day long, and then go to ahuge machine and exchange their currency for a little bitof card that someone else would then want tokeep looking at on their journey?  Hard to believe now,but contactless payment for your travel wasn’t universalthen….”

“Surely that was in the olden days?”

“Nope– 2021… seriously. Back then, people still hadn’ttwigged the benefits it would bring – obvious now, butthen, they hadn’t realised what you could do withdata, and how you could combine travel data andpayment data to help customers, and to plan howtransport works as a whole.”

“Surely, that meant everything worked in siloes, almost ina vacuum?  Not exactly great for people wanting totravel.  Why didn’t they do something about it?”

“Well, there were a few reasons, apparently…. Contactlesspayment across entire transport networks was possible,but because the whole industry was so fragmented, itwas only taken up sporadically.  So, all that informationon movement where people were needing to go fromand to was either not captured, or used in a really limitedway.  And so neither the customers nor the transportindustry could get the benefit of all that data being usedfor mutual benefit…”

“…Don’t Look Back In Anger…”The scene… A pub in Birmingham ….The year… 2041

Martin Howell

Head of TransportMarkets UK&I

Worldline

Martin is a Strategy and businessdevelopment leader, with wideexperience in transport and data-ledindustries. Proven achievements insetting strategic vision andobjectives and managing tosuccessful completion. Strongcustomer relationship managementand people skills in highly matrixedorganisations, building trust andcollaboration, whilst ensuringprogrammes are delivered on timeand on budget.

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“Oh yes, data… that used to be a problem didn’t it?People used to get their knickers in a twist about privacyand ‘Big Brother’….. And then go and moanabout it on their Facebook page!”

“Ha haaaaaa!!”

“It was kind of the way things were. The big change camewhen passengers started being treated as customers,and put at the centre of all the thinking.  As customers,they were used to transparency and simplicity in all sortsof retail experiences… you know, quickly find theitem you need, swipe to buy it and have it deliveredquickly and with the minimum fuss – all from yourphone, and completely confident you have paid thebest price available.  Just like data and its use, it’s all to dowith earning customer trust.  It seemed that idea took along time to catch on properly..”

“You mean they had to do all the running about andwere still stuck with a fixed price and figuring out thebest mode for themselves?  What a pain!”

“Sure did… what we take for granted now, with the yourown travel account sorting out everything for you, wasstill being talked about – but without much in the wayof action.  Much of the transport network was organisedaccording to arcane old arrangements that were at bestoutdated and often, completely bonkers, with littleregard for what customers wanted, needed, what theythought and what they expected.  For many people, theidea of paying seamlessly, once, for all elements of yourjourney and knowing all your preferences were alreadytaken into account, was just that – an idea.  And beingkept informed was quite a rarity too.  Yes, of course,people could check apps and Twitter and be sentnotifications if things were messed up.  But it was allreactive – there was none of the proactive, predictiveintelligence that we are used to these days, now thatdata is being seamlessly integrated into planning andoperations to help everyone who runs and uses transportof all kinds.”

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“I didn’t think all that stuff was that recent – I thought theidea of holistic transport provision had been around along time…?”

“Yes, the idea had - and lots of people were talking aboutit and the benefits they thought it would bring.  But itwas only when a company like Worldline, as a paymentsprovider, waded in to bring together the streams ofmovement, payment and location data that thingsbegan to really take off and we started to see the shapeof how things COULD be…. What was different was thatat last people were voluntarily giving up dataknowing they could absolutely trust it would be used fortheir benefit – and to help society and ultimately socialmobility.

Worldline (and others, to be fair) showed just what couldbe done to make entire transport eco-systems workbetter through some simple but admittedly visionarymeasures…. Pull together contactless payment data andmovement data and provide a single, easy to usesubscription service to access it – it wasn’t magic butit was transformative.  Odd, when we’re so used to itnow….”

“Do you know, as well as that article, I also readsomething that made me chuckle.  Apparently Worldlineturned up at the Transport Ticketing show in 2021 – andrefused to talk about tickets at all!”“Ha ha…! Brilliant!” 

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Like most aspects of our personal and professional lives,the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic effect on theworld’s transportation systems. In particular, publictransportation has seen decreases in passenger numbersand revenue due to fears of exposure when travelling inenclosed spaces. The widespread adoption of work-from-home schemes and distance learning has also resulted indecreased demand for public transit.

Communities, regions and countries will transitionthrough the various stages of recovery at differing rates,making it difficult to prescribe specific solutions to aquickly-evolving challenge. However, a comprehensivestrategy which leverages proven technologies can helplead transportation decisionmakers to solutions whichcan both mitigate the current spread of the virus andhelp to prevent future outbreaks.

Innovative technologies such as contactless farecollection, data-based journey planning, virtualisedsmartcards, virtual ticketing agents and reward, loyaltyand advertising platforms can support cities in managingthe spread of COVID-19, while simultaneously makingtheir transportation networks safer, more efficient andmore resilient over the long term. These technologieshave already been proven and implemented around theworld, both in large and small cities and regions.

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Deploying Technology forResilient Mobility During andAfter COVID-19

Removing touchpoints with contactless technology

Because viruses can live on surfaces for hours or evendays, we must reconsider the number of touchpointsinvolved in our daily routines and how we can minimisetheir use. This is particularly important for publictransportation, where surfaces such as ticketingmachines, gates, buttons, and seats are touchedthousands of times per day.

Strategy DirectorCubic Transportation

Systems

Dave Roat

Dave Roat is Strategy Directorat Cubic Transportation Systems. Heis responsible for supporting thecompany’s global transportationstrategy by identifying marketopportunities in the industry andfilling capability gaps throughmaking, partnering or buying. Theseinclude defining and building thebusiness cases for transportation-related strategies for new markets,public transport and autonomousvehicles.

He is also responsible for drivinginnovation development throughproof of concept and beyond. Daveled the creation of the Cubic GlobalInnovation Centre in London –Cubic’s think tank for solutions totransportation challenges throughknowledge transfer partnershipswith academia, customer andindustry leaders. Dave is recognizedin the industry for innovationthought leadership and initiativesunder his leadership includemobility as a service, autonomousvehicles and next generationgatelines.

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Contactless payments and account-based fare collectionare some of the most effective ways in reducingtouchpoints in the transportation ecosystem. Contactlesspayments in London has already been hugely successfulwith more than 60% of all Pay As You Go transactionsbeing paid this way. With traveller’s being able to pay bya token already in their pocket, can increases trust inpublic transport. In account-based fare collectionsystems, a passenger’s centrally-managed transportaccount is linked to a token in the form of a QR code,smart card, student ID, contactless bank card, virtualcard, or mobile device. Once the token is authenticatedand linked to the passenger’s account, funds or creditsare automatically deducted to pay for the journey. Inaddition to eliminating touchpoints such as gates, thesecollection systems also remove the need for onboardcash collection. Retail partnerships enable cash-preferredor cash-dependent customers to purchase and replenishcontactless fare products. Technologies like Cubic’sTouchPass can be deployed in as little as three months,providing rapid relief to regions which have not yetadopted account-based fare collection. Montana’s METTransit System is the latest agency to implement thissolution in August 2020.

In the long term, mobile devices could remove the needto tap entirely. RFID and BLE beacon technology can beused to enable fully hands-free, Be-In/Be-Out (BiBo)solutions. BLE beacons provide app-based access totravelers with BLE-enabled smartphones, while RFID tagscan be worn or attached for wheelchair users, passengerswith limited mobility, and those without a BLE-enabledmobile device.

Other innovations can also be used to reduce in-personinteractions between passengers and ticketing agentssuch as Cubic Virtual Ticket Agent (VTA) capabilities,which allows a ticket agent to deliver key customerservice functions including selling fare cards and tickets,answering questions and troubleshooting, all via remotevideo. This technology has been deployed in Singapore.

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Cubic’s Mobile for Travelers solution provides a trustedjourney planning tool for customers across multiplemodes of transportation. By combining ticketing,account management, and real-time transit tracking in asingle application, Mobile for Travelers allows customersto keep track of flexible route configurations, delays anddisruptions. Agencies can communicate servicealterations to customers in advance or in real-time,allowing passengers to make mobility decisions based onreliable information. Widespread adoption of journeyplanning applications could also be leveraged for contacttracing solutions, both for COVID-19 and for potentialfuture pandemics. Since September 2020, LA travellerscan use the TAP mobile app to transfer a physical TAPcard to their Apple Wallet as well as purchase storedvalue and passes, plan transit trips and manage their TAPaccount settings along with various multi-modalprograms such as Metro Bike Share.

For public transit agencies, Cubic Interactive, a loyalty,incentive and advertising solution provides an effectivetool for influencing traveler behaviour. Agencies candevelop custom loyalty programs to encourage healthymobility choices and to ease crowding by shiftingdemand away from peak times. These loyalty programsare also capable of generating revenue through brandand advertising integrations and has been successfullyimplement in Miami.

Given the importance of limiting large crowds to slow thespread of viruses, transit agencies must work toincentivise behaviour that spreads out passenger crowdsas much as possible. To do this, we need to understandwhy customers make their individual travel decisions.Passenger data can be analysed to identify patterns inpassenger behaviour and to create new solutions forfacilitating physical distancing.

Leveraging mobile devices to modify behaviour

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For the transportation industry to remain resilient in theface of future pandemics and other emergencysituations, it must be able to implement comprehensive,multi-agency and multi-modal responses. Anoverarching strategy is required to manage relationshipsbetween public and private transit operators, enablingcoordinated actions and helping to distribute demandacross the entire network. The benefits of collaborationextend beyond public safety and streamlined farepayment, as integrated systems can facilitate theautomation of business processes and improve theoverall experience for the end user.

As we work to further overcome the current crisis andprepare diligently for future possibilities, we must pursuethe technologies which will make the transit industrysafe, efficient, and equitable for all passengers.

Please read Cubic’s whitepaper to learn about othertechnologies that can be leveraged to adapt and thriveduring and post COVID-19.

These key technology innovations are capable ofdelivering immediate impacts to public transit agenciesresponding to COVID-19. However, a long-term vision forthe recovery of the transportation industry must considerthe entire transport network holistically, including bothpublic and private transportation modes. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is required to break out of transportationsilos and deliver the safest and most effectivetransportation solutions.

Building long-term MaaS habits

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3 September 2020I heard on the radio that, despite ministers encouragingpeople in England back to work in their offices, most arestaying at home. Commuter trains are about one-thirdfull and buses are about 40% full. During the COVID-19pandemic, demand for public transport fell off a cliff asgovernments told their people to stay at home. A majorpart of encouraging travellers to use public transport isthe provision of systems that allow social distancing ofpassengers from staff, ideally eliminating the need toexchange physical tickets, cash and paper receipts.

The use-case I am interested in is one that allowspassengers to travel without paying upfront and becharged afterward based on the journey that they took.Somehow, which journeys the passenger has taken needto be tracked in order that either they can be allowed totravel because they have already paid, or more likelythese days with the demise of season tickets (andassuming carnets continue not to take off), charged afterthe travel in a modern Pay As You Go (PAYG) manner.What technologies are going to help?

44% had used contactless payments for publictransport.28% were using contactless payments for all or mostof their public transport payments.2/3 of customers convert to contactless paymentsafter first use. It is clearly popular and this could meanthat the pandemic accelerates the shift tocontactless.

Our work with Transport for London on the use ofcontactless bank cards for convenient public transportpayments is well known. Even before the pandemic, thecontactless uptake facts and figures published by TfL inJanuary 2020 at Transport Ticketing Global were betterthan anyone expected when we started the work back in2008:

Customers surveyed:

Contact-free public transport

Contactless bank cards

John ElliottHead of Transit Practice

Consult Hyperion

IdentityPayments, including EMV andremote paymentsSmart ticketing

John Elliott is a Principal Consultantwith Consult Hyperion, anindependent consultancy, globallyrecognised as thought leaders andexperts in the areas of:

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These key technology innovations are capable ofdelivering immediate impacts to public transit agenciesresponding to COVID-19. However, a long-term vision forthe recovery of the transportation industry must considerthe entire transport network holistically, including bothpublic and private transportation modes. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is required to break out of transportationsilos and deliver the safest and most effectivetransportation solutions.

2/3 of journeys are PAYG:57% of PAYG is contactless payments and rising.Launch was 2014, and by 2015 20% of PAYG wascontactless payments. The contactless proportionof PAYG continues to rise.21% of the PAYG contactless payments is mobilepayments.

50% fewer season tickets are sold since theacceptance of contactless payments (NB this wasbefore COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more peopleworking from home).

TfL journey payments market overall:

TfL recently released graphs of their actual PAYGjourneys using Oyster and contactless bank cards acrossthe recent months (see below). The apparent period ofzero bus journeys was when TfL temporarily stoppedtaking payments so that the journeys were not recorded.The split between Oyster and contactless bank cards isnot available. In the future, it will be interesting to seewhether the pandemic speeds up the switch to PAYGand also whether Oyster users migrate to bank cards.

Public transport operators have been making greatefforts to make public transport safe during thepandemic. TfL recently launched a new app that makes iteasier for passengers to plan their travel and avoid routeswhere they might come close to large numbers ofpeople. There are claims that the rate of uptake ofcontactless by passengers has increased significantlysince the pandemic and the demand for contact-freetransactions on public transport. Visa recently offered agraph relating to global public transport contactlesstransactions. However, it is not clear what the actualcontactless usage is since they are hidden behindmonth-on-month percentage increases which lookenormous when the previous months had fallen off theproverbial cliff.

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How does the driver know you are using BIBO? So,you end up having to activate an app and show thedriver that you are using it. By which time, it wouldhave been faster to pay by more conventional meanssuch as tapping a contactless bank card.The beacons are not particularly accurate in rangeand struggle to differentiate between a passenger onthe bus and one standing near the bus.

For an ultimately contact-free experience, Be-In Be-Out(BIBO), where the passenger presence on a mode oftransport is detected without their having to tap in andout, seems highly desirable. Until, that is, you start to lookfor technologies that can deliver it. We have conductedsurveys of BIBO in the past for clients and there was atrial on buses when we were working at Transport for theNorth. Yet still in 2020 BIBO is not a success story outsideof the lab.

Various technologies have been trialled for deliveringBIBO, some with beacons mounted at strategic points onbuses and trains as well as at stops and stations. Thepassengers must carry some kind of transponder thatcan be detected by the beacons as they pass through thetransport network. The latest hope for BIBO is BluetoothLow Energy (BLE) named by Ericsson after a Danish kingwith a dead ‘blue’ tooth. BLE is inside every modernsmartphone and can be left activated without significantbattery drain.

However, BLE has been around 2011/12 in smart phonesand still no BIBO success. There are all sorts of knownissues with implementing BIBO. Say, on a bus:

This same technology was proposed for COVID-19 ‘trackand trace’ apps. For similar reasons to BIBO lack ofsuccess, it seemed obvious that they would not be ableto operate accurately enough to be useful. Furthermore,if launched, they would potentially cause more troublethan they are worth by triggering false alarms and tellinginnocents to go into periods of self-isolation for fear oftransmitting a virus they don’t have to others. Although,companies are still working on it and some claim to havea solution by combining BLE with inaudible ultra-highfrequency sounds and Iceland has trialled the use of GPSfor tracking.

King Harald Bluetooth to the rescue?

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The radio again – I hear that the Transport Minister forEngland had just reported that there have been fewerthan 400 fines for people failed to wear face covering onpublic transport. More than 115,000 travellers have beenstopped and reminded that face coverings aremandatory, and 9,500 people prevented from travelling.

My first contact with the world of biometrics was when Iworked with the Police of England and Wales to draw uptheir biometric identification roadmap back in 2004. Inthose days, the big three in terms of positiveidentification at population scale were fingerprint, faceand iris. These were taken forward as candidates for theICAO e-passport biometrics when we worked with theUK Passport Agency to help them choose which, if any, touse. We also worked with the UK Immigration andNationality Directorate, helping them draw up theirbiometric strategy for border control, visas and asylumseekers, amongst other applications. We’ve written aboutBiometric travel before.

But not all biometrics are contact-free. One of thereasons some cultures do not like the use of fingerprintbiometrics is that they must touch a surface (e.g. at anATM) previously touched by many others. This is relevantfor everyone now during the current pandemic. Thetransit industry has had a vision for some years thatpassengers will be recognised as they approach a gateand the gate will open (or not) if the passenger isconsidered good for the payment of the ensuing journeycost.

I recently replaced my fingerprint-driven iPhone 6 withan iPhone XR which does not have a fingerprint readerbut uses face recognition instead. It is some time since Ihad played with face recognition which is common nowat UK airports. At first my new phone did not like mymorning face and insisted that I enter the PIN, but it alsocleverly trains itself each time it is used and now I canopen my phone without PIN before breakfast. Most of usseem happy to use facial recognition technologynominally under our control, e.g. Apple Face ID, butclearly, there are privacy implications.

Biometric identification

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Then I took my new phone to the shops – facial is not theideal biometric during the compulsory mask-wearingseason. And this has been the finding on public transporttoo, where passengers are having to remove their masksin order to get their phones, many of which no longerhave fingerprint readers, to pay. Obviously, fallback to PINis possible, but neither fast nor convenient.

One of the biometrics we looked at for the Police wasbody odour. The logic was, dogs use it to identifysuspects from a sniff of their socks, why cannot chips ofthe future do the same? Watch this space, you heard ithere first.

Contactless bank cardsQR code tickets and/or paymentsIn-app ticketing and payments such as pre-paidaccountsSubscriptions, perhaps as part of a Mobility-as-a-Service offer

So, assuming that we can be sure the owner is the user,mobiles appear to be the best tech we currently have forcontact-free transactions. These might include:

And a big part of this is support of digital wallets bymobile devices, which were considered in of one of ourrecent webinars on contact-free payments. The idea isthat contactless payment cards are so well standardisedthat wallet slots are available in all smart phones allowingthe card details to be uploaded and the NFC interface tobe used to make payments.

We have innovated for clients in this area, for example,making clever re-use of the contactless bank card walletslot to represent tickets for travel and events, or even torepresent pandemic immunity passports to allow peopleto return to work more safely.

There are many technological options and even moreconsiderations, but we thrive on the challenge of findingsmart, innovative solutions to clients’ requirements. If youwould like to discuss what this means for you, give us acall.

Digital wallet innovation

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