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Open payment systems remove the need to pre-purchase a ticket for travel or select from available tickets at the point of travel. Boarding speeds are increased as friction is reduced, with passengers using their contactless bank cards or mobile wallets as their ticket to ride. It’s one of the reasons why many cities and regions are introducing Open Payment as a way of making it easier for commuters and tourists to access mass transit to encourage a modal shift to more sustainable mobility.
Open Payment are compatible with any type of public transportation, from buses, trains, and ferries to park and ride shuttles.
For passengers, it means there is no need for cash and no confusion over whether you’ve got the correct ticket for your journey. There’s no need to create an account or download an app. The experience is effortless, and it’s easy to see why many passengers are quick to adopt this payment option:
- It alleviates confusion regarding ticket options – passengers will always get the best available fare for their journey.
- It makes it easier to travel, regardless of whether you’re a frequent traveller or a tourist, because no one needs city-specific applications or accounts.
- The speed of boarding increases, as passengers can simply tap and find a seat.
But is it for everyone? Is everyone comfortable using an Open Payment system?
In fact, studies show that 40% of people using Open Payment systems in France aren’t regular public transportation passengers. That’s because Open Payment makes life easier for people who aren’t regular riders. The challenge is not whether the technology is appealing, it’s whether cities and their mobility partners have the right communication strategy.
Communicating the benefits of Open Payment
The main communication challenge behind Open Payment is also one of its biggest benefits – that it makes transport ticketing transactions seamless, almost invisible. Here are some important steps to consider.
- Be clear on the cost of travel. When a rider taps their card on a validator, it’s important they know the price for their journey. Where journeys are a fixed price, this is less of an issue, but in a tap-and-go environment it’s even more important for good fares information to be easily accessible to encourage adoption. Customers need confidence they will be charged the best value fare.
- Create a robust marketing plan. This will inform residents and tourists about the Open Payment options and any limitations – and explain how the system works, how best value is assured and how passengers can access their transaction records securely. Some cities time the roll-out with a big event to kick-start adoption. In Edinburgh, for example, Lothian Buses chose their busy annual Festival season to launch the Open Payment system developed by Flowbird – and it proved extremely popular with local people and the many thousands of visitors. In the city of Lille, another Flowbird Open Payment system went ‘live’ across eight metro stations just in time for the Rugby World Cup. It was a prime opportunity to test the system’s capability to ease the flow of large crowds through stations on match days, and the launch was accompanied by a strong marketing campaign by the transport operator.
- Communicate the value of capping. Open Payment can enhance the value to passengers and increase loyalty through fares capping. Account Based Ticketing, with Open Payment, provides a way to inform customers of their journey history and present the fares structure used to calculate the fare charged.
In Toulouse, they started small, and then…
Toulouse worked with Flowbird to launch an Open Payment solution for their airport shuttle – the first of its kind in the city.
The system was a huge success. The city communicated its merits effectively to people through a comprehensive marketing plan – and everyone could clearly see the rate for the shuttle.
From day one, riders were quick to adopt and, today, people from over 100 countries have so far used the Toulouse Open Payment system for shuttles from the airport.
Having seen the success of the shuttle, Toulouse is taking their Open Payment system one step further and deploying it throughout the rest of the city’s transit network.
To encourage adoption and frequent use, more and more cities are looking to integrate Open Payment with Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
Using MaaS to improve communication
Essentially, MaaS ties together the separate threads of a city’s transport and attractions, so that people can plan to visit parts of a city, and pay for multimodal transport – e.g., a bus followed by a tram and a bike hire – without purchasing tickets in advance.
Cities that use MaaS apps can forge a stronger connection with riders on public transportation. And this can be effective in prompting more widespread adoption of transit networks.
MaaS applications let riders create a passenger account which can be linked to their EMV card or digital wallet for travel. It can show them how they’re taking advantage of reduced fares, and record concession entitlements. Passengers can also benefit from notifications about their journeys and fares. In many ways, MaaS is the missing link between transport authorities and passengers.
MaaS also places the emphasis on the destination rather than the journey. Some people are in the habit of using their car. But with MaaS, the same app can be used to access travel and destinations, such as sporting events or local attractions. The app can also send notifications to advise about travel times, options and store tickets.
Interested in learning more about how Open Payment and MaaS could improve your city’s mobility? Fill out a contact form to start a conversation with Flowbird!
