The role of transport ticketing in boosting ridership

Katerina Lamprou, Urban Mobility Delivery Senior Manager, Visa Europe, outlines how ticketing will shape the future of public transport. 

What role does ticketing play in boosting public transport ridership?

Paying for transit can still be more complicated than it should be in the digital era. More than half (51 percent) of public transit riders use four or more different payment methods a month for their travel. By enabling open-loop, contactless ticketing solutions, transit agencies can remove friction associated with a multi-payment system and help boost ridership. Our research shows that nearly one-third of transit riders started using public transport more often because of the ability to use open-loop payments.

This is increasingly important as the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is gaining momentum worldwide. People are seeking integrated and rider-friendly transportation solutions as they navigate between multiple modes of transit (trains, buses, bikes, rideshare). Moving towards the idea of MaaS will help commuters in the future by offering flexible and on-demand mobility options. As contactless payments become a standard among riders, we expect to see mobility services on a single digital platform to make travel easier.

How was this advanced over the past decade?

As consumer expectations have shifted, contactless payments on transit have moved from a nice to have to a need to have. Our latest research found that 94 percent of transit riders globally expect public transit to offer contactless payment moving forward and 65 percent are most likely to use contactless payments over the next year. Visa has helped launch more than 750 contactless public transit projects worldwide contributing to lower ticketing overhead for public and private transportation operators, increased ridership, and improved passenger experiences.

How do you see transport ticketing evolving in the coming years?

We have moved past “if” transit agencies will adopt contactless to the “how.” Looking ahead, it is about refining the technology in place and offering additional services that improve the experience for riders. For example, transit agencies that have contactless systems need to ensure everything is secure and seamless, and for those just adopting, it’s important to future-proof tech stacks to meet consumer demand. We’re working with agencies to drive this change through our Value-Added Services and the Visa Acceptance Platform, which has hundreds of systems around the globe and processes over half a billion transactions a year, with a host of live transit technology partners across the digital and physical space.

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