In March this year, major public transport provider, National Express West Midlands was awarded Mass Transit Transaction Model (MTT) accreditation by banking giant Barclaycard, thanks to INIT’s innovative ticket solution.
Working in close partnership with National Express West Midlands, INIT developed its contactless bankcard payment solution, achieving full compliance with VISA and Mastercard’s latest transit implementation guides.
The in-depth EMV (Europay International, Mastercard and Visa) accreditation means that National Express West Midlands transport passengers can now pay for travel with the convenience of ‘tap and go’ contactless card payments and smart phone apps, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Helping meet the transport provider’s business objectives: supporting efficiencies and improving passenger satisfaction and comfort.
Jens Mullak, Managing Director of INIT UK, said: “We are thrilled to have our solution accredited for National Express Travel West Midlands.
“We believe that we are the first smart ticketing solutions provider to have achieved this accreditation. It’s an exciting step for the business and transformative within the industry - and is a first in the UK, outside of London’s Oyster card solution.”
Growing popularity of contactless payments
Jens continued: “There is definitely a growing trend for contactless payment around the world. With the popularity of contactless bank cards and the usage of mobile phones, this will surely more and more replace cash payments, particularly as the majority of public transport passengers are students and young people, who rarely use cash and highly value convenience and speed.
“Automatic best-fare capping gives public transport users one less thing to think about and confidence in the knowledge that their daily best-fare has been calculated without any forward planning. Being able to simply tap your contactless bank card or use your smart phone to pay for travel also speeds up boarding times and reduces cash in the system for the transport operator.”
A long-term partnership
Since 2018, more than 1,600 National Express West Midlands buses have been equipped with INIT’s TOUCHmon2 driver consoles, COPILOTpc2 on-board computers, PRINTmobile ticket printers and PROXmobile3 validators.
Martin Hancock, Development Director, National Express West Midlands said: “We chose INIT because they provided us with a flexible, future-proof solution that gives our passengers and our drivers what they want.
“The INIT system gives us the technology to realise the benefits of modern ticketing by fully integrating with our other on-bus equipment.
“One of the most important benefits for National Express has been how well INIT worked with our drivers to make the system as intuitive as possible. We’ve had great feedback from all our garages about how the INIT kit saves drivers time and tasks, so they can concentrate on their driving.
“INIT has also provided us with more legible tickets that give clarity for our passengers. The flexibility in ticket layout has helped us tackle fraud by using things like a word of the day.
“The new machines have helped with operations by speeding up boarding times. This is especially important in an urban area like the West Midlands, where dwell times can really add up over a long route. And with more and more of our passengers choosing to pay for their travel using digital, that will become even more important.”
‘Rigorous testing’
In order to receive MTT accreditation for National Express, INIT’s open loop, account-based ticketing solution underwent rigorous testing scenarios and were seen to meet the requirements of the major banking providers.
The second level certification means that liability for failed payment transactions is transferred to the card issuer and reduces the transaction cost for the transport provider.
Jens continued: “We’re one of the few solution providers that can provide a turnkey open account-based ticketing solution that importantly also offers cross-network integration of other public transport providers. It’s an exciting development, as this interoperability gives customers the platform for future growth.”
Driving developments in technology
INIT’s technology is driven by the demands of both passengers and transport providers, ensuring that buying tickets for public transport is as easy as possible.
As a worldwide leading supplier of integrated planning, dispatching, ITS and ticketing systems for buses, light rail and trains, INIT has been assisting transport companies in making public transport more attractive, faster and more efficient for more than 35 years. Today, more than 700 customers rely on its innovative software and hardware solutions.
Managing Director
INIT Innovations in Transportation Ltd
United Kingdom